Liberty's Torch: The Great Adventure to Build the Statue of Liberty (21 page)

Charles Bartholdi, Auguste’s only sibling. About six years after this photograph was taken, Auguste committed his brother to a mental hospital.

Credit: Musée Bartholdi, Colmar, reprod. C. Kempf

Bartholdi (left) and the painter Jean-Léon Gérôme, on their trip to Egypt in 1855–56.

Credit: Musée Bartholdi, Colmar, reprod. C. Kempf

A watercolor by Bartholdi of his proposed lighthouse for the Suez Canal. The unrealized project clearly prefigured Liberty.

Credit: Musée Bartholdi, Colmar, reprod. C. Kempf

Eugène Viollet-le-Duc, famous for restoring Notre Dame, served as the original engineer for Liberty.

Credit: Musée Bartholdi, Colmar, reprod. C. Kempf

In July 1871, Bartholdi met with President Ulysses S. Grant at his New Jersey cottage, where Grant offered his general support for the project, but no specific authorization.

Credit: Library of Congress, LC-USZ62-21986

Bartholdi (left) with his assistant Marie Simon at Niagara Falls during their 1871 trip to seek support for Bartholdi’s proposed colossus.

Credit: Musée Bartholdi, Colmar, reprod. C. Kempf

Craftsmen at work on the statue at Gaget, Gauthier & Compagnie in Paris, France.

Credit: Library of Congress, LC-USZ62-20113

Portrait of Jeanne-Émilie de Puysieux, Bartholdi’s wife. They married in Rhode Island in 1876.

Credit: Portrait by Jean Benner. Musée Bartholdi, Colmar, reprod. C. Kempf

The torch on exhibit at the 1876 world’s fair in Fairmount Park, Philadelphia. To raise funds for the statue, Bartholdi charged visitors a small fee to climb to the torch balcony.

Credit: Statue of Liberty National Monument, National Park Service

Bartholdi displayed the statue’s head at the 1878 world’s fair in Paris. Proceeds from postcard and souvenir sales helped fund Liberty’s construction.

Credit: Library of Congress, LC-USZ62-18086

To test construction, Bartholdi directed the Gaget & Gauthier craftsmen to first assemble Liberty in the courtyard of the Paris workshop. Visitors could climb to the torch once it was cloaked in the copper.

Credit: Musée Bartholdi, Colmar, reprod. C. Kempf