Frédéric Auguste Bartholdi

Frédéric Auguste Bartholdi was a sculptor from Colmar in Alsace who spent years on the idea of a colossal woman holding up a light. Liberty Enlightening the World was dedicated in New York Harbor in 1886. Her copper skin is only about 2.4 millimeters thick, hammered into shape by hand, and it hangs on an iron framework designed by Gustave Eiffel before his tower. He also carved the Lion of Belfort into a cliff in eastern France, and he signed his rare paintings with a false name, Amilcar Hasenfratz.

France paid for the statue and America had to pay for the pedestal. On the harbor walk, the Statue of Liberty Museum on Liberty Island holds the original torch, replaced in 1986. In Washington, his cast iron fountain, first shown at the 1876 world's fair, stands beside the United States Botanic Garden, a short walk from the Capitol.