In June 1871, Bartholdi crossed the Atlantic, with letters of introduction signed by Laboulaye.

As Bartholdi had been planning a trip to the United States, he and Laboulaye decided the time was right to discuss the idea with influential Americans.

Though Bartholdi greatly admired the United States Constitution, he chose to inscribe " JULY IV MDCCLXXVI " on the tablet, thus associating the date of the country's Declaration of Independence with the concept of liberty.

Before starting his commission, Bartholdi had traveled to the United States and personally selected New York Harbor as the site for the statue.

* 1878: The Bartholdi Fountain in Bartholdi Park, the United States Botanic Garden, Washington, D. C., United States ;

* Statue of Lafayette and Washington by Bartholdi, Place des États-Unis ( United States Plaza ), Paris, France, 1895

* Statue of Liberty The Statue of Liberty is a colossal neoclassical sculpture on Liberty Island in New York Harbor, designed by Frédéric Bartholdi and dedicated on October 28, 1886.

In 1881 Eiffel was contacted by Auguste Bartholdi who was in need of an engineer to help him to realise the Statue of Liberty.

The Statue of Liberty ( Liberty Enlightening the World ; French: La Liberté éclairant le monde ) is a colossal neoclassical sculpture on Liberty Island in New York Harbor, designed by Frédéric Bartholdi and dedicated on October 28, 1886.

Bartholdi was inspired by French law professor and politician Édouard René de Laboulaye, who commented in 1865 that any monument raised to American independence would properly be a joint project of the French and American peoples.

Any large project was further delayed by the Franco-Prussian War, in which Bartholdi served as a major of militia.

Arriving at New York Harbor, Bartholdi focused on Bedloe's Island as a site for the statue, struck by the fact that vessels arriving in New York had to sail past it.

Consultations with the metalwork foundry Gaget, Gauthier & Co. led Bartholdi to conclude that the skin should be made of copper sheets, beaten to shape by the repoussé method.

Statue of Vercingetorix by Frédéric Bartholdi | Bartholdi, on Place de Jaude, in Clermont-Ferrand

Many other monumental statues of Vercingetorix were erected in France during the 19th century, including one by Bartholdi on the Place de Jaude in Clermont-Ferrand ( see first image ).

** Statue of Liberty, a colossal neoclassical sculpture on Liberty Island in New York Harbor, designed by Frédéric Bartholdi and dedicated on October 28, 1886

The plan of Bartholdi having been approved, more than 1, 000, 000 francs were raised by subscription throughout France for the building of the statue.

This statue was sculpted by Frédéric Bartholdi, who also created the Statue of Liberty.

Statue of Vercingétorix by Frédéric Auguste Bartholdi on the main square of the city

* Fontaine de l ' Amiral Bruat – 1864 ( Statue by Bartholdi )

* Fontaine Roeselmann – 1888 ( Statue by Bartholdi )

* Fontaine Schwendi – 1898 ( Statue by Bartholdi )

Statue by Bartholdi, his earliest major work )

* Monument Hirn – 1894 ( Statue by Bartholdi )

The siege is commemorated by a huge statue, the Lion of Belfort, by Frédéric Bartholdi.

* Belfort is the home of the Lion of Belfort, a sculpture by Frédéric Bartholdi expressing people's resistance against the siege in the Franco-Prussian War ( 1870 ) – who shortly afterwards built the Statue of Liberty in New York.

The Duchess of Camposelice was still a striking lady when she met the sculptor Bartholdi.

" As well as meeting many influential New Yorkers, Bartholdi visited President Ulysses S. Grant, who assured him that it would not be difficult to obtain the site for the statue.

Smith became a contractor in New York City and did much work for the federal government, including the stone ice-breaker at Bridgeport, Connecticut, the jetties at the mouth of the Connecticut River, the foundation for the Bartholdi Statue of Liberty in New York Harbor, the Race Rock Lighthouse ( southwest of Fishers Island, New York ) and many life-saving stations.

The defiant lion, long and half that in height, displays an emotional quality characteristic of Romanticism, which Bartholdi would later bring to the Statue of Liberty.

Bartholdi considered having Liberty hold a broken chain, but decided this would be too divisive in the days after the Civil War.

Bartholdi made alterations in the design as the project evolved.

Bartholdi interested a former teacher of his, architect Eugène Viollet-le-Duc, in the project.

* 1834 – Frédéric Auguste Bartholdi, French sculptor, designed the Statue of Liberty ( d. 1904 )

Bartholdi completed the head and the torch-bearing arm before the statue was fully designed, and these pieces were exhibited for publicity at international expositions.

According to sculptor Frédéric Bartholdi, who later recounted the story, Laboulaye's comment was not intended as a proposal, but it inspired Bartholdi.

Given the repressive nature of the regime of Napoleon III, Bartholdi took no immediate action on the idea except to discuss it with Laboulaye.

Bartholdi was in any event busy with other possible projects ; in the late 1860s, he approached Ismail Pasha, Khedive of Egypt, with a plan to build a huge lighthouse in the form of an ancient Egyptian female fellah or peasant, robed and holding a torch aloft, at the northern entrance to the Suez Canal in Port Said.

Bartholdi had made a first model of his concept in 1870.

The son of a friend of Bartholdi's, American artist John La Farge, later maintained that Bartholdi made the first sketches for the statue during his U. S. visit at La Farge's Rhode Island studio.

Bartholdi continued to develop the concept following his return to France.

Bartholdi and Laboulaye considered how best to express the idea of American liberty.

Instead of the impression of violence in the Delacroix work, Bartholdi wished to give the statue a peaceful appearance and chose a torch, representing progress, for the figure to hold.