Daniel Chester French's "The Spirit of Life" began as a commission for a memorial to Spencer Trask (1844-1909). Trask was a summer resident in Saratoga Springs, New York and a founder of the committee which was charged with renewing the city's reputation as a health resort. Saratoga Springs was, and remains, known for its fine spring water.
Henry Bacon designed the setting for French's statue. It was designed with a reflecting pool, and can be contemplated from a stone bench on a little raised stone platform, in front of it {and out of the picture}. The only other statue/setting on which French and Bacon collaborated is
the Lincoln Memorial, in Washington DC.
