The Master Brain Behind the Statue of Liberty

Frederic Auguste Bartholdi was born on August 1834, in Colmar, in Lower Alsace. His mother always had his education as a priority. However, she was more concerned about his education after Bartholdi’s father died in 1836. After this terrible loss, Bartholdi’s mom decided to move to Paris to supervise in a better way her children's education. This move to Paris exposed Bartholdi to many works of art that would, later on, influence his artwork. According to Oscar Handlin, "Early on, Auguste decided that his true medium was sculpture and shifted his efforts to the studio of the well-known sculptor Jean Fraçois Soitoux." (15). In other words, Bartholdi recognized the art of sculpting was an innate passion of him. Therefore, his imagination allowed the idea of a beautiful woman, with an old robe, holding up a torch to became a reality. A combination of recognizing his love of sculpting and understanding that sculptures can transcend time led him to create the well known Statue of Liberty.

It is important to note that Bartholdi was a genius who could create great ideas regardless of the circumstances in which he found himself. According to Elizabeth Mitchell, " Even in his despair, his design resuscitated the centerpiece of a deal he almost struck with Egypt three years earlier"(x). Bartholdi presented his idea of an enormous statue of a woman, sustain a lantern, to stand in the new Suez Canal. But the Khedive, Ismail Pasha, reject it. Dispirited but never defeated Bartholdi recognized a second opportunity to bring to life his colossal statue. As a result, he developed practically the same sculpture for the American shores.  However, Bartholdi said, “Each site presents some difficulty, but the grates difficulty, I believe, will be the American character which is hardly open to things of the imagination… I believe that the realization of my project will be a matter of luck” (x).

Works Cited

Handlin, Oscar, and Newsweek, Inc. Book Division. Statue of Liberty. New York: Newsweek, 1971. Print. Wonders of Man.

Mitchell, Elizabeth. Liberty's Torch: The Great Adventure to Build the Statue of Liberty. First ed. 2014.