Annie Kuster: “I thank Congressman McEachin for yielding this time to me. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to urge passage of H.R. 965, the…”

“I thank Congressman McEachin for yielding this time to me. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to urge passage of H.R. 965, the Saint- Gaudens National Historical Park Redesignation Act. Named after the great American sculptor Augustus Saint-Gaudens, this historic site, located in Cornish, New Hampshire, has preserved his home and working studios since it was established in 1965. Augustus Saint-Gaudens was born in Dublin, Ireland, and immigrated to America with his parents when he was just 6 months old. It was at a young age when Augustus developed a strong interest in sculpting, which set him on a path to Paris and Rome, where he studied art and architecture and worked on his very first commission. In 1876, Saint-Gaudens was tapped for his first of several prominent Civil War-related commissions, which include the Standing Lincoln statue of our 16th President. At over 12 feet tall, this historic landmark stands prominently in Chicago's Lincoln Park. After working on the statue for close to a decade, the towering piece was unveiled in 1887 to a crowd of over 10,000 people, including President Lincoln's only living grandson. His most famous work was commissioned soon after: the Robert Gould Shaw Memorial, a bronze bas-relief which took Saint-Gaudens 14 years to complete.…”