Love that beautiful statue, “Grief.”
They tore down the Soldier’s Home that was on New Hampshire Avenue almost at the DC line, Eastern Avenue. Now it’s a yuppie townhouse development.
My father always called it ‘Grief’ - that was the popular name for the statue. But I don’t think that was what Adams had in mind when he commissioned it. He didn’t want it to have a name, and seems to have wanted it to be rather left up to the observer. (He was steeped in Eastern religions and culture.)
As I recall, St. Gaudens suggested that it represented something like ‘the peace that passeth understanding’ - the idea of peace coming from detachment from physical life and cares, and release into an entirely different realm.
At any rate, it’s a very beautiful piece of sculpture, very peaceful to contemplate, and evocative of deep thought:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adams_Memorial_(Saint-Gaudens)