Was the Statue of Liberty Patterned After Descriptions of the Colossus of Rhodes?

Answer 1

~Don't be silly. The Colossus had a dick.

Answer 2

Actually, it was based on a French Revolutionary symbol, Liberty, that was depicted everywhere, including the painting above. However, a poet, Emma Lazurus, wrote a poem, The New Colossus, that related it to the Colossus of Rhodes, since, like the original Wonder of the World, it was an enormous statue, owned by a superpower, in a harbor of one of their greatest cities. However, the original one, as the poem states, was a symbol of imperial might , whereas the new one is all about beckoning people to the opportunities of the new world. The poem came after the statue, and was later inscribed on a plaque on the statue's base.

Answer 3

There is a painting named "Liberty Leading the People" (painted in 1830) by the French Painter Delacroix which may have inspired the sculptor. From Wikipedia: "The posture (though not the attire) of the figure in the painting suggests that of the Statue of Liberty, designed by French sculptor Frédéric Bartholdi in the 1880s."

However, one of Bartholdi's influences might have been Egyptian: "In 1869 The Ottoman Turks had purchased a statue for the entry of the recently built Suez Canal to Bartholdi and he prepared a scale model of a giant statue of a lady holding a torch. The statue was to be placed in Port Said and was designed as "Egypt carrying the light of Asia". The inspiration came from the giant statues at Abu Simbel."

Also, it is thought that the face of the statue is that of Bartholdi's mother.