Szilágyi András (szerk.): Ars Decorativa 26. (Budapest, 2008)

Ildikó PANDUR: Variations on a Sculpture. Questions and Answers Concerning the 'Ironworker' Sculpture Formerly in the Jungfer Collection

be ranked as sculptures for buildings or other such architectural embellishments. Literally outstanding, the best-known monumental example of a work in beaten copper is New York's Statue of Liberty, which stands on an island in the Hudson River. Among the antecedents of this forty-sixmetre-high monument, which was the work of Frédéric Auguste Bartholdi (1834-1904) and which was paid for out of donations, we find the Colossus of Rhodes, raised in the third century B.C. in honour of Helios, and the Roman colossus from the first century A.D. that depicted the Emperor Nero. However, these last two were both made from bronze parts, like 'il Sancarlone', erected in the middle of Arona in the 17

lh century, depicting St. Charles of Borromeo and standing more than twenty metres high. The Statue of Liberty - it acquired this name later - was assembled from pieces of copper plate 2.4 cm thick that were fixed to 2. The workshop of Gaget & Gauthier Company in Paris, between 1878-1884 a frame constructed from iron bars. It was made by the firm Ateliers Monduit et Bechet, successeurs Gaget, Gauthier et Cie, between 1878 and 1884 (ill. I).

8 Among Bertholdi's helpers were Simon, a sculptor; Baron, a modeller; and Bergeret,'' who supervised the copper work. The choice of the technique used is linked to Eugène Viollet-le-Duc.

10 Its structure was designed by Maurice Koechlin, a colleague of Gustav Eiffel, (ills. 2-4) (Small-sized models of the huge work were made in various materials, and the Gaget-Gauthier company even produced copies in bronze that were for sale.) Despite the intention, the "sculpture" was 1. The Statue of Liberty in the last phase of its execution in Paris, around 1884 3. The plaster cast of the left hand of the Statue of Liberty, during its execution between 1878-1884