Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

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» Place: Philadelphia, Pennsylvania    

Chapin, Samuel - "The Pilgrim"

Monument to Deacon Samuel Chapin, Founder of Springfield, Massachusetts.
Kelly Drive at Lemon Hill Drive, Philadelphia (relocated 1920)
Bronze, on fieldstone base
Height 9'1" (base 1'7")
Gift of the New England Society of Pennsylvania
Owned by the City of Philadelphia

AUDIO SLIDESHOW - VIEW HERE
"Museum Without Walls": Audio: The Pilgrim by artist Augustus Saint-Gaudens, from Fairmount Park Art Association

Augustus Saint-Gaudens was one of the most influential and successful artists of the late nineteenth century. His James A. Garfield Monument was installed along East River (now Kelly) Drive in 1895. The Puritan, the first version of The Pilgrim, was commissioned by Chester W. Chapin as a monument to one of the founders of Springfield, Massachusetts—Deacon Samuel Chapin (1595–1675). The New England Society of Pennsylvanians asked Gaudens to make a replica of The Puritan for the city of Philadelphia. For the later commission Gaudens made some changes in the figure's dress and adjusted the facial characteristics to represent a New England type: "For the head in the original statue, I used as a model the head of Mr. Chapin himself, assuming that there would be some family resemblance with the Deacon, who was his direct ancestor. But Mr. Chapin's face is round and Gaelic in character, so in the Philadelphia work, I changed the features completely, giving them the long, New England type, besides altering the folds of the cloak in many respects, the legs, the left hand, and the Bible." The Pilgrim was originally placed on the South Plaza of City Hall but was relocated to its present site in 1920.

Adapted from Public Art in Philadelphia by Penny Balkin Bach (Temple University Press, Philadelphia, 1992).

» Place: Philadelphia, Pennsylvania