“My only ambition has been to engrave my name at the feet of great men and in the service of grand ideas,” wrote Frédéric Auguste Bartholdi.
French sculptor Frédéric Auguste Bartholdi circa 1880. New York Public Library Archives. (Public Domain)
Today Frédéric Auguste Bartholdi is most known for one colossal work of sculpture that he called “La Liberté Éclairant le Monde.” We know it as “The Statue of Liberty.” The 151-foot tall bronze Neoclassical statue has stood on her pedestal overlooking New York’s harbor since 1886. The huge statue, a representation of the Roman goddess Libertas, is supported by an iron framework built by Gustave Eiffel, who is most noted for his famous tower in Paris….