Statue of Liberty Bicentennial Plaster Folded Double Image Art
The Statue of Liberty —also known as Armed Liberty or simply Freedom —is a bronze statue designed by Thomas Crawford that, since 1863, has crowned the dome of the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C. Originally named Liberty Triumphant in War and Peace , official U.S. government publications now state that the statue "is officially known equally the Statue of Freedom". [1] The statue depicts a female figure wearing a armed services helmet and holding a sheathed sword in her right hand and a laurel wreath and shield in her left. [2]
Contents
- 1 Description
- 2 History
- 2.one Pattern
- 2.ii Execution
- 2.3 Restoration
- three Gallery
- 4 References
- 5 External links
Description
Freedom is a colossal bronze standing figure xix½-feet (6 meters) tall and weighing approximately fifteen,000 pounds (6,800 kg). Her crest peaks at 288 feet (88 meters) above the due east front plaza of the U.Due south. Capitol. [3] She is a female person allegorical figure whose right hand holds the hilt of a sheathed sword while a laurel wreath of victory and the Shield of the United States are clasped in her left hand. The heraldic shield is the aforementioned as in the Great Seal of the United States, with xiii stripes, except that the chief has stars (again, thirteen). Her chiton is secured past a brooch inscribed "U.S." and is partially covered by a heavy, Native American–style fringed blanket thrown over her left shoulder. She faces east [4] towards the main archway of the building and the rise Lord's day. [five] She wears a military helmet adorned with stars and an hawkeye's caput which is itself crowned by an umbrella-like crest of feathers. Freedom stands atop a bandage-iron earth encircled with one of the national mottoes, E pluribus unum. The lower part of the base is decorated with fasces and wreaths. Ten bronze points tipped with platinum are attached to her headdress, shoulders, and shield for protection from lightning.
History
Design
A awe-inspiring statue for the tiptop of the national Capitol appeared in architect Thomas U. Walter's original drawing for the new cast-iron dome, which was authorized in 1855. Walter'due south drawing showed the outline of a statue representing the goddess Liberty; Crawford proposed an emblematic effigy of Freedom Triumphant in War and Peace.
Crawford was commissioned to design the Statue of Liberty in 1854 and executed the plaster model for the statue in his studio in Rome. Mississippi Senator and Secretary of War Jefferson Davis (who would later get President of the Confederacy) was in charge of the Capitol construction and its decorations. Co-ordinate to David Hackett Fischer in his book Liberty and Freedom, Crawford'due south statue was…
…very close to Jefferson Davis'due south ideas in every way but one…. In a higher place the crown he [had] added a freedom cap, the one-time Roman symbol of an emancipated slave. It seemed a straight affront to a militant slaveholder, and Jefferson Davis exploded with rage. The northern sculptor and the southern slaveholder had already clashed over a freedom cap in the interior decoration of the Capitol. [6]
Davis sent his adjutant, Helm Montgomery Meigs, with orders to remove the cap, saying that "its history renders it inappropriate to a people who were born free and would not be enslaved". [7] A armed forces helmet, with an American hawkeye head and crest of feathers, replaced the cap in the sculpture's last version. (Today many casual observers have the statue, with its eagle and feathers, to be an American Indian. [eight] )
Execution
Crawford died in 1857 earlier the full size plaster model left his studio. The model, packed into 6 crates, was shipped from Italy in a small sailing vessel in the spring of 1858. During the voyage the ship began to leak and stopped in Gibraltar for repairs. Subsequently leaving Gibraltar, the transport began leaking again to the signal that information technology could become no farther than Bermuda, where the model was stored until other transportation could be arranged. One-half of the crates finally arrived in New York Urban center in Dec, but all sections were non in Washington, D.C. until late March 1859.
Beginning in 1860, the statue was cast in 5 main sections by Clark Mills, whose bronze foundry was located on the outskirts of Washington. Work was halted in 1861 because of the Civil War, merely by the end of 1862 the statue was finished and temporarily displayed on the Capitol grounds. The cost of the statue, exclusive of installation, was $23,796.82. Late in 1863, construction of the dome was sufficiently advanced for the installation of the statue, which was hoisted by slaves in sections and assembled atop the cast-fe pedestal. The final department, the effigy's caput and shoulders, was raised on December two, 1863, to a salute of 35 guns answered by the guns of the 12 forts around Washington. [9]
While Liberty was being bandage at Mills' foundry the foreman in charge of the casting went on strike. Instead of paying him the higher wages he demanded, Mills turned the project over to Philip Reid, ane of the slaves working at the facility. Reid presided over the residual of the casting and assembly of the figure. The effigy was placed in position on December ii, 1863. Reid had to expect until November 1864, at which time he, at least symbolically, received his liberty cap.
Restoration
The Statue of Freedom was removed from the dome for v months in 1993.
On May ix, 1993, after being in place nearly 130 years, the statue was brought downward from its pedestal past helicopter for restoration, also giving tourists a chance to encounter the statue up close. The work was needed considering of extensive pitting and corrosion on the surface of the bronze and considering of a crack and rusting on the cast-iron pedestal. The projection was guided by the recommendations of a thorough conservation and engineering study conducted in 1991. The U.s. Capitol Preservation Commission provided $780,000 in privately raised funds, which covered all project costs. The work was performed past New Arts Foundry of Baltimore, Maryland.
The cast-iron pedestal was restored in identify atop the dome. The metal was stripped of paint, and the wreaths and fasces were removed to ensure that they were thoroughly cleaned and coated. The cleft was permanently repaired, and the entire pedestal was primed and painted with a color specially mixed to match the statue.
Restoration of the statue and the pedestal was completed in approximately four months. The Statue of Freedom was returned to its pedestal by helicopter on October 23, 1993, amid the celebration of the bicentennial of the U.S. Capitol. Since and so, every 2–3 years, the statue undergoes ii weeks of cleaning and recoating as necessary.
The plaster model of the statue, which had been in storage for 25 years, was reassembled and restored in the basement rotunda of the Russell Senate Function Building, where it was returned to permanent public display in Jan 1993. The plaster model was relocated to the Emancipation Hall of the Capitol Visitor Center, which provides more visitors admission to look at the statue's details. [10]
The head of the statue is depicted on a postage (1923, The states Scott No. 573), which was re-issued in 2006. The entire statue is depicted on a stamp commemorating the 150th ceremony of Washington, D.C. (1950, United states of america Scott No. 989).
The Statue of Freedom tin can exist found on the reverse side of the Iraq Campaign Medal decoration authorized to be awarded to members of the U.Due south. war machine who deploy to Iraq in directly support of Operation Iraqi Freedom. The civilian version of the Global War on Terrorism Expeditionary Medal, known as the Global State of war on Terrorism Civilian Service Medal, too depicts the statue on the obverse (forepart face) of the medal.
Gallery
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United states $5 postage, 1923.
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Iraq Entrada Medal
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Global War on Terrorism Civilian Service Medal
References
-
This article incorporates public domain material from websites or documents of the The Architect of the Capitol.
- ^ United States Architect of the Capitol (1965). Compilation of Works of Art and Other Objects in the Usa Capitol. Washington: United States Government Printing Office. pp. 364. http://books.google.com/books?id=JtgyAAAAMAAJ&pgis=1.
- ^ http://www.visitingdc.com/capitol/statue-of-freedom.htm
- ^ "Statue of Liberty". Builder of the Capitol. http://www.aoc.gov/cc/fine art/freedom.cfm . Retrieved 2009-08-23.
- ^ http://www.aoc.gov/aoc/frequently-asked-questions.cfm
- ^ "Architect of the Capitol Frequently Asked Questions". Architect of the Capitol. http://www.aoc.gov/aoc/frequently-asked-questions.cfm#CP_JUMP_8208 . Retrieved 2009-01-21.
- ^ Fischer, David Hackett (2005), Liberty and Freedom, Oxford University Printing, pg 299.
- ^ Meigs to Crawford, cited in Fryd, Vivien Green (1992), Art and Empire: The Politics of Ethnicity in the The states Capitol, 1815-1860, New Haven, Connecticut: Yale Academy Press.
- ^ PBS News Hr on January 16
- ^ Gale, Robert L. Thomas Crawford: American Sculptor, Academy of Pittsburgh Press, Pittsburgh, 1964, p. 190
- ^ "AOC To Begin Move of Statue of Freedom Model into Capitol Visitor Centre" (Printing release). Architect of the Capitol. 2008-06-02. http://www.aoc.gov/aoc/press-room/loader.cfm?csModule=security/getfile&pageid=34449 . Retrieved 2008-xi-ten.
External links
- The Architect of the Capitol website page on Liberty
Coordinates: 38°53′24″Northward 77°0′32.four″W / 38.89°N 77.009°Westward / 38.89; -77.009
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