Statue of R. R. Randall, Founder of Sailors' Snug Harbor, Staten Island -Postcard NYPL Digital Collection
The Statue of Robert Randall stands on a double-tiered pink granite base at Sailors’ Snug Harbor. Today this is a replica of the original cast by Augustus Saint- Gaudens in 1884. The original Statue is at sea level in North Carolina. The Statue was commissioned by the Trustees of Sailors’ Snug Harbor about 1880. Saint - Gaudens wished to model that Statue after an allegorical figure of benevolence which was not approved by the Trustees of Sailors’ Snug Harbor. Saint -Gaudens instead made a generic model of a seaman dressed in eighteenth-century clothing to represent Randall. Saint- Gaudens was never happy with the Statue and it is reported that when Saint-Gaudens was asked about the Statue, he stated, “don’t mention the damn thing” (Dryfhout, 146).