Liberty

Date: ca. 1884
 * [[image:https://s3.amazonaws.com/saam.media/files/styles/x_large/s3/images/XX/XX76_1a.jpg?itok=lcGLxkKR width="214" height="330" link="@https://americanart.si.edu/artwork/liberty-1415"]] || Title: **Liberty**

Artist: **Frederic Auguste Bartholdi** Born: Colmar, France 1834 Died: Paris, France 1904

Medium: bronzed terra cotta and tin Dimensions: 46 x 12 x 11 in. (116.8 x 30.5 x 28.0 cm) Smithsonian American Art Museum Transfer from the U.S. Capitol

Accession: XX76 || The statue is of a female figure standing upright, dressed in a robe and a seven point spiked rays representing a nimbus (halo), holding a stone tablet close to her body in her left hand and a flaming torch high in her right hand. The tablet bears the words "4th July 1776," commemorating the date of the United States Declaration of Independence. The Statue of Liberty's obviously classical appearance (Roman stola, sandals, facial expression) derives from Libertas, ancient Rome's goddess of freedom from slavery, oppression, and tyranny. Broken shackles lie at her feet. The seven spikes in the crown represent the seven seas and seven continents. Her torch signifies enlightenment. She is taking a step forward with her left foot and is looking out into the distance.
 * Exhibition Label: **

The piece seen in the American Art Museum is a cast reproduction made out of bronzed terracotta. In addition to the difference in size—the reproduction is four feet tall in comparison to the New York monument’s 151 feet—there are several other distinguishing factors. One of the seven points of Liberty’s headdress is missing in the reproduction and her tablet reads “4th July 1776.” In New York, the date appears in Roman numerals: “July IV MDCCLXXVI.”

To Bartholdi, the Liberty project was a personal commitment of twenty-one years. His mother was the model for the face while the woman who modeled for the torso eventually became his wife. His obsession with the idea of the colossus gave him the super human energy to create “Liberty Enlightening the World,” the Statue of Liberty as we know her today.

Many American artists, including Andy Warhol, Rauschenberg, and Keith Haring, have appropriated the image of the Statue of Liberty to make their own statement.

Signs and Symbols Guide
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