Frédéric Auguste Bartholdi

Lore & Background

Bartholdi was born in Colmar to an Alsatian Protestant family. His father died when he was two, and he moved with his mother and brother to Paris, though the family often returned to Colmar. He studied sculpture with Antoine Étex, architecture with Henri Labrouste and Eugène-Emmanuel Viollet-le-Duc, and painting with Ary Scheffer. He attended the Lycée Louis-le-Grand and later studied at the École nationale supérieure des Beaux-Arts.

His early career included a Good Samaritan-themed sculpture at the 1853 Paris Salon and a commission for a bronze memorial of General Jean Rapp. Travels to Yemen and Egypt in 1855–1856 sparked his interest in colossal sculpture. In 1869, he proposed a lighthouse for the Suez Canal called 'Egypt Carrying the Light to Asia,' but it was rejected due to cost. During the Franco-Prussian War, he served as a squadron leader and liaison officer to Giuseppe Garibaldi, and afterward created monuments celebrating French heroism, including the Lion of Belfort (completed 1880).

In 1871, he traveled to the United States to pitch a massive statue as a gift from France for the centennial of American independence, an idea first suggested by Édouard René de Laboulaye in 1865. The Statue of Liberty was inaugurated in 1886. Its construction was begun by Viollet-le-Duc and completed by Gustave Eiffel. Bartholdi also sculpted the Bartholdi Fountain in Washington, D.C. (1878). He married Jeanne-Emile Baheux in Providence, Rhode Island, in 1876, and died of tuberculosis in Paris in 1904.

Reader's Guide

Bartholdi's significance lies primarily in his design of the Statue of Liberty, one of the most iconic monuments in the world, symbolizing freedom and the friendship between France and the United States. The statue, a gift from France, was erected in 1886 on Liberty Island at the entrance to New York Harbor. Its construction involved notable figures: Viollet-le-Duc began it, and Gustave Eiffel completed it. Bartholdi's other major work, the Lion of Belfort, commemorates French resistance during the Franco-Prussian War. His career also included numerous statues and fountains in France and the United States, such as the Bartholdi Fountain. He was awarded the rank of Commander of the Legion of Honor in 1886. His childhood home in Colmar became the Musée Bartholdi in 1922. Bartholdi's legacy endures through his colossal sculptures and his role in creating a lasting symbol of liberty.

Did You Know?

• Bartholdi's rare paintings were signed under the pseudonym 'Amilcar Hasenfratz.'
• He proposed a lighthouse for the Suez Canal called 'Egypt Carrying the Light to Asia,' but it was rejected due to high cost.
• The Statue of Liberty originally arrived with chains in its left hand, representing freedom from slavery, but they were later hidden at the feet.
• It was rumored in France that the face of the Statue of Liberty was modeled after Bartholdi's mother.