“Unveiling The Statue of Liberty” by Edward Moran depicts October 28, 1886, when thousands of spectators gathered for the dedication of The Statue of Liberty. Moran captures the moment when the assembled warships fired a 21-gun salute to welcome the President for the dedication ceremony. Ships flying French and American flags fill the harbor as smoke from the gun salute rolls across the scene.
The Statue of Liberty is a colossal sculpture on Liberty Island in New York Harbor. The copper statue, a gift from the people of France to the people of the United States, was designed by Frédéric Auguste Bartholdi and built by Gustave Eiffel. The statue was made in France, shipped in crates, and assembled on the completed pedestal on the island. New York’s first ticker-tape parade celebrated the statue’s completion, and a dedication ceremony presided over by President Grover Cleveland.
The Statue of Liberty is a figure of a robed woman representing Libertas, a Roman goddess. She holds a torch above her head with her right hand, and in her left hand carries a tablet inscribed in Roman numerals with the date July 4, 1776, the date of the U.S. Declaration of Independence. A broken chain lies at her feet. The statue became an icon of freedom and the United States and was a welcoming sight to immigrants arriving in New York.
Edward Moran
Edward Moran was an American artist of maritime paintings and most famous for his historical paintings of United States marine history.
Unveiling The Statue of Liberty
- Title: Unveiling The Statue of Liberty
- Artist: Edward Moran
- Year: 1886
- Material: Oil on canvas
- Museum: Museum of the City of New York
Edward Moran
- Name: Edward Moran
- Born: 1829 – Bolton, Lancashire
- Died: 1901 (aged 71) – New York City
- Nationality: American
- Notable works:
- Unveiling The Statue of Liberty
Explore Museum of the City of New York
- “Portrait of Mrs. Alexander Hamilton” by Ralph Earl
- “Olivia Peyton Murray Cutting” by Alexandre Cabanel
- “Unveiling The Statue of Liberty” by Edward Moran
- Exhibits of the Museum of the City of New York
A Tour of New York’s Museums
- Metropolitan Museum of Art – MET
- Museum of Modern Art, NYC
- Intrepid, Sea, Air & Space Museum
- Neue Galerie New York
- The Cloisters
- Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum
- American Museum of Natural History
- Museum of the City of New York
- New-York Historical Society
- Frick Collection
- Met Breuer
- Rubin Museum of Art
- Whitney Museum of American Art
- Brooklyn Museum
Exploring The Statue of Liberty
- How many American’s know that this statue was a gift from the people of France to the people of the United States?
- The idea for the Statue of Liberty was first proposed by the president of the French Anti-Slavery Society and an influential political thinker of his time. What inspired him about America?
- Why are hundreds of replicas of the Statue of Liberty displayed worldwide?
- As a symbol of Liberty, of optimism, why has it also become a symbol of science fiction’s pessimistic view of the future?
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“Make your mark in New York, and you are a made man.”
– Mark Twain
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Photo Credit: Edward Moran [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons