Restored Freedom of Poetry, the statue that probably inspired New York's Statue of Liberty

TheOpera di Santa Croce and the Friends of Florence Foundation, in close synergy with the Soprintendenza Archeologia, Belle Arti e Paesaggio, have collaborated on the restoration of the sculpture Freedom of Poetry, Pio Fedi ’s monument dedicated to Giovan Battista Niccolini, poet, playwright, and great protagonist of Risorgimento ideals.

The restoration work was presented this morning by Irene Sanesi, president of the Opera di Santa Croce, Simonetta Brandolini d’Adda, president of the Friends of Florence Foundation, Claudio Paolini, an official of the Soprintendenza along with Paola Rosa who, with Emanuela Peiretti, supervised the restoration. Kathryn A.Rakich, of the U.S. Consulate General in Florence, recalled how Santa Croce has represented a link with the United States for more than two hundred years. The project, in fact, is part of the bicentennial celebration of the Consulate’s presence in Florence and of diplomatic relations between the United States and Tuscany.

The work was completed in 1877 and inaugurated in 1883, and, as Claudio Paolini recalled, its genesis was very troubled, especially regarding its location within the basilica. Certainly Pio Fedi intervened extensively on the already placed work to improve the impact of the light sources. Thanks to today’s restoration, entirely supported by the Friends of Florence Foundation, a compact and abundant deposit of dust and patination that impeded proper reading was removed.

The monument has been reproduced in recent months in 3D using an accurate, very high-resolution scan by Kent State University. Starting next October 18, it will be featured in Sisters in Liberty, the exhibition that the Opera di Santa Croce is promoting at theEllis Island Museum of Immigration in New York that can be visited until April 26, 2020.

“Our Foundation chose to intervene precisely in the bicentennial year of the American Consulate in the city, and this restoration emphasizes the bridge between Florence and the United States. The sculpture was probably the inspiration for the Statue of Liberty in New York, and for us it is certainly the work that is the repository of those values of freedom and independence that founded the identity of the American people,” said Simonetta Brandolini d’Adda.

The similarity between the two sculptures has long been the focus of critical debate: It is possible that Pio Fedi’s statue was the source of inspiration for Frédéric Auguste Bartholdi, the French artist who created the statue between 1877 and 1886. Bartholdi was traveling in Italy in 1875-76 and would have had the opportunity to see an early version of the statue in Florence, in Fedi’s atelier on Via dei Serragli.

Pictured is a detail of Freedom of Poetry.

Restored Freedom of Poetry, the statue that probably inspired New York's Statue of Liberty

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