William Rimmer
American, 1816­1879
Saint Stephen
1860
Granite
ht.: 55.2 cm
Roger McCormick Fund, 1977.230

Saint Stephen, the first Christian martyr, was stoned to death in approximately 35 A.D. This sculpted head expresses the saint’s great agony, and Rimmer intended it also to express his own suffering as a struggling artist. 

Rimmer lived in Massachusetts where granite was plentiful, and he taught himself to carve this hard stone. Why do you think he left the surface of this sculpture rough, rather than polishing it?