Lafayette is looking east away from the park. He stands on a ship's prow in the act of pledging his heart and sword to the American revolutionaries. The statue is surrounded by grass and trees. It is a fitting somewhat secluded spot for a man who lived through so much turbulent history and hand a hand in making so much of it. The Marquis de Lafayette sculpture is by Frederic Auguste Bartholdi, who also made the Statue of Liberty.
Frederic Auguste Bartholdi
(b. 1834 Colmar, Alsace – d. 1904)
was a French sculptor, best known for his emblematic Statue of Liberty ( 'Liberty Enlightening the World') in New York Harbor (1886). The face of the statue is said to be that of his mother.Bartholdi studied painting with Ari Scheffer, another European painter (b. 1795 Dordrecht, Holland - d. Argenteuil, France 1858). Scheffer recognized Bartholdi's talent as a sculptor and encouraged him to develop it. Subsequently, Bartholdi went to study with Jean-François Soitoux (1816–91) and Antoine Etex (1808-1888), both talented painter/sculptors. At 21, Bartholdi made his first colossal, public monument 'General Jean Rapp' (nearly 12 feet high, Colmar, Place Rapp). Bartholdi was influenced by the sculptor Francois Rude. In 1856, he went to Egypt with the Orientalist painter Jean-Léon Gérôme, where he developed his taste for large monuments. However, Bartholdi's project to sculpt a large figure as a lighthouse for the mouth of the Suez Canal (intended to open in1869) was rejected by the ruling lord/governor. Bartholdi continued to think big and construction of his nicknamed 'Statue of Liberty' began in 1875 in France. It was completed in June 1884, dismantled and shipped to New York, where it arrived on June 19, 1885. It took four months to reassemble. The Statue of Liberty became a symbol of America and of democracy. Bartholdi's other major sculptures include: 'Switzerland Succoring Strasbourg,' in Basel, Switzerland; statues at Clermont-Ferrand, at Belfort, in Paris, and his statue of Lafayette at Union Square Park in NYC.
The Marquis de Lafayette
(b. 1757 Auvergne, France – d. Paris, France 1834)
was 18 when he heard about the American Revolution. Lafayette, a captain of artillery in a regiment in Metz, met at a dinner, the brother of King George III, the Duke of Gloucester. The Duke reported on American events and the Declaration of Independence. Lafayette was fascinated. From a Paris agent, he got a commission as an American officer. He was 20 when he joined American ranks as a major general. Lafayette served on Washington's staff, became Washington's friend and eventually, a trusted field officer. He proved himself in fighting in New Jersey and Pennsylvania in 1778, but returned to France in 1779 to help secure French support for the American cause. When he returned to America he played an important role in the entrapment of Cornwallis at Yorktown. Lafayette went to France after the war and helped foment the revolution there. He became a leader of a French Division against the Austrians. In 1792, the Jacobins (radical forces within the revolution) forced Lafayette to flee the country. He fled to Flanders, where he was imprisoned by the Austrians for five years. After his release, he returned to France, where he avoided Napoleon and his dictatorship. After Napoleon's defeat at Waterloo, Lafayette became a member of the Chamber of Deputies. In 1824, Lafayette made a triumphant return to the United States, where he was celebrated. As payment for his services in the Revolutionary war, Congress granted him $200,000, and a township of 24,000 acres in Louisiana. When he returned to France, he took with him a plot of American soil, within which he was buried in 1834. Lafayette's full proper name was The Marquis Marie Joseph Paul Yves Rock Gilbert du Montier Lafayette.)
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1) Union Square Map [22]
