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ARTHOLDI, the great French sculptor, died last month. But so long as the colossal statue of "Liberty Enlightening the World" stands on Bedloe's Island, at the entrance to New York harbor, his fame among men will be secure. He needs no other monument, and no man could ask a nobler.

It was in the imagination of this Alsatian Frenchman that the great dream was born; it was due largely to his artistic skill and craftsmanship that the stupendous conception finally took form and permanence in bronze and copper. Nearly twenty years of his life were de

voted to its creation-but twenty years is a short time in which to win immortality.

Born in 1834, Bartholdi was already approaching middle age when the first idea of his masterpiece came to him. One evening the sculptor, Lafayette, Henri Martin, Rémusat, De Tocqueville, and several other Frenchmen eminent in literature, statecraft, and art, dined together at the country seat of M. Laboulaye near Versailles. It was at a time when the impulse for freedom beat high in the veins of France. At the table the company talked of human liberty, and of the new republic which promised so

much for their own beloved country. Among them was the descendant of that Lafayette who shared with Washington the struggles and the dangers out of which came the Republic of the United States. In that republic the War of the Rebellion was but lately over, and a new era of prosperity was about to open.

After dinner the party went out into the conservatory to smoke their cigars. There, while the smoke wreaths rose and the talk grew loftier and more inspiring, Bartholdi spoke.

"Let us, the Republicans of the new France," he said, do something to recognize fittingly the example and the inspiration of the great republic across the water, which has again dedicated the two Western continents to human liberty."

Those who heard him were quick to recognize the great possibilities of the idea. They rose with thusiasm to his proposal. First of all, Bartholdi went across the water to see for

en

symbolic monument. There remained its realization, involving the raising of large sums of money, and technical difficulties without precedent and almost innumerable.

As soon as the sculptor returned to France, he laid his plans before his friends. In support of his proposals, they at once formed the Franco-American Union, to which flocked hundreds of the

himself what fitting form the memorial might take. Let Bartholdi himself tell what happened:

"My statue was born at the moment when I awakened off the harbor of New York and, in the pearly radiance of a beautiful morning, looked out upon the marvelous picture which presented itself. There lay the immense city in the arms of its twin rivers, each festooned with masts and flags as far as the eye could reach. Here, I said to myself, at this gateway to the continent, shall be raised the Statue of Liberty, grand as the idea which it embodies, looking out radiant over the two worlds."

So far, the conception of the great

enlightened men

of France. This union set at once about raising the necessary funds. At a banquet given by the Union in 1875, the city of Paris subscribed $2,000; and during the next five years the sum of $250,000 was raised by popular subscription throughout the republic. But Bartholdi did not wait until the money was subscribed. He set to work shortly after his return from America. First

he made a model of the proposed about

statue

four feet in height. On this

the sculptor lavished all the skill of his art, for upon it he depended to awaken popular interest in the plan, as well as to sound the keynote for the creation of the It was called "The gigantic statue. Model of the Studio," and many copies of it were sold to art lovers, the proceeds going into the treasury of the Union.

The next step in the work was the modeling of a second figure, almost an exact reproduction of the first in everything but size. It measured a little over eight feet in height. This statue, which was executed with rigid precision, was

reproduced four times as large by the ordinary processes. This resulted in a gigantic figure thirty-six feet in height, already fitted to take rank with the largest productions of the sculptor's art. But the plan for the figure which was destined to stand at the entrance of New York harbor, called for a total height of 151 feet, or again four times as large as the completed model. Here began those technical difficulties for the final overcoming of which the artisans and engineers employed deserve as much credit as does Bartholdi for the nobility and artistic merit of his design.

Consider the problem for a moment. It called for the erection of a statue much larger than any ever before erected at

any place or time in history. The Colossus of Rhodes ranked as one of the seven wonders of the world. But beside the Statue of Liberty, as Bartholdi planned it, this ancient wonder was a dwarf. It towered 100 feet above the water; but this new Liberty raised its torch to a height of 305 feet, the figure alone, without the pedestal, measuring 151 feet. In the construction of the figure, the handling of no less than 400,000 pounds or 200 tons of iron and copper was involved.

It was necessary not only that artistic symmetry be preserved, but that the statue should be made in small sections, so that it could easily be transported across the ocean. In the first place, then, it was decided that the statue should be

made of plates of thin, hammered copper, this material offering less resistance to the necessary conditions of working than any other. That decision made, the 36foot model was removed to the center of a huge work-room specially built for the purpose. The model was divided by lines into a great number of sections, each of which was to be reproduced separately on an enormous scale. Changes for the sake of artistic betterment were no longer possible. The sculptor and his assistants could aim only at very great precision and care in the enlargement of the various sections, which had now be

come enormous.

Four men worked at the same time, each busy with the reproduction of a single section of the model. To aid them in their work, the particular sections of the model on which each man was employed was arranged within a frame before his eyes. The frame was marked in inches, and crossed and criss-crossed from side to side by wires, each of which was also divided into plainly marked inches.

On the side of the wall of the workroom hung a similarly marked and wired frame, in which every dimension was multiplied by exactly four. Against this frame, and guided by the measurements, the workman built up in wood and plaster an exact reproduction of his section of the model, multiplying every detail by four as he went along. He worked with compasses, rules, and other instruments of precision, finally going over the outer plaster surface of his reproduction with the tools of a sculptor in order to give the necessary flowing and graceful outlines.

From the gigantic sections made in this way, moulds of solid wood were constructed; and over these the thin sheets of copper were fitted and beaten into shape with hammers, all the measurements being later verified on the completed copper plates. Each plate was furnished with iron braces which gave it strength and solidity.

When finished, the plates were carried into the mounting court, there to be fastened to the immense truss-work of iron beams serving as a support for the whole envelope of the statue. This truss-work was designed and executed by the em

Exhaustive mathematical calculations were made upon the resisting power of the iron pieces, upon the center of gravity, and upon the action of high winds. The calculations were made by taking as a base the most powerful hurricanes which have been recorded either in America or in Europe. As regards preservation of the work, it may be said that since all the elements of its construction are visible on the inside in all their details, it will easily be kept in good condition.

from the proportions of the Statue of Liberty. The statue was born for the place which inspired its conception. May God be pleased to bless my efforts and my work, and to crown it with the success, the duration, and the moral influence which it ought to have! I am happy to have been able to concentrate the best years of my life to being the interpreter of the noble hearts whose dream has been the realization of this monument to the French-American union."

The first fragment of the completed statue-the arm and uplifted torch-was exhibited at the Centennial Exposition at Philadelphia in 1876. The head was next