# Was the Statue of Liberty supposed to be green?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-the-statue-of-liberty-supposed-to-be-green/123742>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [August 13, 2002, 8:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-the-statue-of-liberty-supposed-to-be-green/123742 "2002-08-13T20:02:49Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![peasea](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/bc79bd/32.png) [@peasea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/peasea)\
**Post date:** [August 13, 2002, 8:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-the-statue-of-liberty-supposed-to-be-green/123742/1 "2002-08-13T20:02:49Z")

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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?

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**Author:** ![NurseCarmen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/5daacb/32.png) [@NurseCarmen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NurseCarmen)\
**Post date:** [August 13, 2002, 8:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-the-statue-of-liberty-supposed-to-be-green/123742/2 "2002-08-13T20:23:54Z")

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Since his medium was copper, I’m sure he understood that it would patina.

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**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\
**Post date:** [August 13, 2002, 8:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-the-statue-of-liberty-supposed-to-be-green/123742/3 "2002-08-13T20:30:43Z")

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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.

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**Author:** ![peasea](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/bc79bd/32.png) [@peasea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/peasea)\
**Post date:** [August 13, 2002, 8:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-the-statue-of-liberty-supposed-to-be-green/123742/4 "2002-08-13T20:35:59Z")

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> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by NurseCarmen \*  
> \*\*Since his medium was copper, I’m sure he understood that it would patina. \*\*

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.