One of the most famous and accomplished sculptors of the 19th century, Frédéric Auguste Bartholdi’s works are displayed around the world
One of the most famous and accomplished sculptors of the 19th century, Frédéric Auguste Bartholdi’s works are displayed around the world . Some of his best-known, including the one for which he is most remembered, are in the United States. “Lafayette Arriving in America” stands in Union Square in New York and was dedicated in 1873. It was a gift from France to New York, in appreciation of the relief New Yorkers sent to France during the German siege of Paris in 1870-71. The inscription on the monument reads “As soon as I heard of American Independence, my heart was enlisted. 1776. To the City of New York. France, in remembrance of sympathy in time of trial, 1870-1871.” The one we all know as the Statue of Liberty is actually titled “Liberty Enlightening the World.” Understood now to represent America beckoning immigrants to her shores (thanks to the Emma Lazarus’ poem “The New Colossus,” which later became associated with the statue), Bartholdi actually intended the statue to repr...