When I was a kid, I thought the Statue of Liberty was made of stone, because of the color. Later on, I learned she was actually made of copper, which oxidizes and turns different colors over time. So, I’ve been wondering for a while: Bertholdi, as any copper sculptor, must have known the stuff would change hue, but was his original vision of Liberty that of a solid stone matriarch, or of a copper beauty, gleaming in the sunlight? Both? Neither? I just read the Snopes article about the black statue of Liberty(a rumor had floated around that she was modeled after an African-American woman, and one of the pieces of evidence cited was an old picture in which she appeared to be black. She was black, but only because that is an intermediate color in the oxidation process), but it didn’t provide any insight into what the sculptor actually envisioned . So, anyone read any biographies on, or journals written by, this guy?
Since his medium was copper, I’m sure he understood that it would patina.
I’ve long suspected that the Statue of Liberty was made in conscious imitation of the Colossus of Rhodes – both were classical statues arranged around a supportinmg core and made of thin copper. The head of each statue had :rays" projecting from the crown, and they were very nearly the same height. The Colossus, like all ancient copper statues, would soon have acquired a patina of copper oxide. I have no doubt that Bertholdi would have known this.
As I stated in the OP, I assume that to be true.
I guess I’m asking about his ‘artistic vision’. I’m assuming that, as an artist, he had some picture in his head of how his Lady Liberty would look. I know it was an evolving image, but did it ever include the color? Did he imagine her beaming or stone-like? Since I’m asking about what he personally thought, the only way to reasonably know would be if he wrote it down, or spoke about it to someone who did; thus, the call for journals or biographies.