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BARTHOLDI'S GREAT STATUE OF "LIBERTY." DRIVING THE FIRST RIVET. |
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ANOTHER step in the history or the colossal statue of Liberty presented by France to America is recorded in our i1lustration. A little more than a year ago the completion of the popular subscription for this gigantic work was celebrated in Paris by a banquet, an account of which was given in the SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN, on July 24, 1880. Since tbat time the work of casting the bronze has been completed, and tbe first step in assembling the parts was signalized the other day by a public ceremony, part or which was the placing of tbe first rivet by the American Minister to France, Mr. Morton. The huge torch-bearing hand of the statue, it will be remembered, was exhibited at the Centennial Exhibition in Philadelphia, and since then has been standing on the Fifth Avenue side of Madison Square in this city. The gigantic size of the statue is in some measure indicated by tbe hand, which so many of our readers have seen, and also by the relative size of tbe head and the human figures in our engraving. Still it is almost impossible to form an adequate idea of the imposing magnitude of the entire figure. The famous Colossus of Rhodes, tbe boldest acbievement of ancient art, would appear but as a child beside it. The intention is to set "Liberty Enlightening the World" on an appropriate site in New York harbor, Bedloe's Island being preferred as the most central. Facing tbe sea the statue will serve the double purpose of a light tower for the guidance of incoming ships, and a type of the grandeur of the New World in its pbysical features and its political institutions and influence. Bedloe's Island is small, yet ample for tbe intended purpose. It will furnish a base for the statue, perhaps twenty feet or so above the water. On this will rest the pedestal, 110 feet high. The statue, to the flame of the torch in the upraised right hand, is 145 feet high. This will raise the light at least 275 feet above the level of the bay, making it visible for many miles at sea. The statue is cast in bronze, in pieces of manageable size, to be riveted together. For the engineering work of constructing the statue, a task requiring no mean skill, the sculptor has had the assistance of De Stuckle. Mr. Bartholdi is an Alsatian by birth, and has achieved an enviable fame as a sculptor, several of his works being of gigantic size. After the Franco-German war he spent several months traveling in this country. Subsequently he was chosen by the French Government to prepare a suitable testimonial for the sympathy and diplomatic service rendered by the United States during the investment of Paris; and the result, a statue to Lafl\yette, now graces Union Square in this City. In 1876 Mr. Bartholdi was with us again as a commissioner to the Philadelphia Exhibition. As an American undertaking, a colossal statue of this nature and for this purpose might seem unbecomingly ambitious, not to say bombastic; but as a gift from a friendly and appreciative republic across the sea its design and purpose cannot be misconstrued. It is much to be hoped that when the statue is finished and presented there will be no unseemly delay in providing the site and the pedestal, for which subscriptions are now in order. 
NEW YORK, DECEMBER 31, 1881Scientific American Supplement, Vol. XII, No313. Scientific American Established 1845. Scientific American Supplement, $5 a year. Scientific American and Supplement, $7 a year. |
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16 February 2004