The Statue of Liberty was the work of French sculptor Frédéric-Auguste Bartholdi. For more than a century, people have wondered about the model Bartholdi used for Lady Liberty.

At just under 3 meters in height, the scaled-down replica traveled first to New York City, where it stood next to the original Statue of Liberty, before moving to the U.S. capital.

At the Smithsonian American Art Museum in Washington, D.C., stands a 46-inch-tall model of an American icon – the Statue of Liberty – whose origin story may surprise you.

An early model, circa 1870, shows Lady Liberty with her right arm in the position we are familiar with, raised and illuminating the world with a torch. But in her left hand she holds broken ...

In an early model of the statue by the French sculptor Frédéric-Auguste Bartholdi from 1870, Lady Liberty is depicted holding broken chains in her left hand, a clear reference to emancipation.

The last sale of a Bartholdi model of the Statue of Liberty took place in 2007 at Christie’s New York, where a terracotta version sold for $144,000, far exceeding its pre-sale estimate of ...