Saint-Gaudens worked on the Shaw memorial in his New York studio. His revised conception, from the idea of a single equestrian figure in relief to a composition depicting much more, made his deadline impossible to meet. Perhaps the greatest constraint in his progress was the monument's evolution from low to high relief.

Augustus Saint-Gaudens, Study for The Shaw Memorial, plaster, 1883, U.S. Department of the Interior, National Park Service, Saint-Gaudens National Historic Site, Cornish, New Hampshire