We are offering a RARE 1860s original CDV photograph of The Statue of Freedom, which would be cast in bronze and placed on a pedestal on the Capitol Building dome. Photo is by Bell & Brother, Washington D.C.
In 1855, Thomas Crawford, an American sculptor who worked from his studio in Rome, was commissioned to create the statue for the dome. He cast the statue in plaster in five major sections which were shipped to Washington D.C. In 1860, work began to cast the statue in bronze, then was halted in 1861 due to the Civil War, but by the end of 1862 it was completed and was temporarily displayed on the Capitol Grounds. By December 2, 1863, a cast iron pedestal and the statue, section by section, were hoisted to the top of the dome. **NOTE** - This photo of the original plaster model of the Statue of Freedom is a piece of history itself. The 15,000-pound plaster model has been moved numerous times from the Capitol to the Smithsonian Institute and back to the Capitol where it remains today in the U.S. Capitol Visitor Center as the centerpiece of Emancipation Hall.
**NOTE OF INTEREST** - this was the last of three designs for the statue submitted by Crawford. This version, with the Roman helmet, crest of an eagle's head, and a bold arrangement of feathers, was approved in 1856 by Jefferson Davis, Secretary of War, later to become the President of the Confederacy.