Statues In The Park Union Square Park. This bronze sculpture depicts the Marquis de Lafayette (1757–1834), the French-born general who fought on behalf of American rebels during the American Revolution. Cast in 1873 and dedicated in 1876, the piece is a token of appreciation from the French government for aid New York provided Paris during the Franco-Prussian War (1870-1) -- thus the inscription “in remembrance of sympathy in times of trial.” The larger-than-life-sized figure was sculpted by Frédéric-Auguste Bartholdi (1834–1904), who also designed the Statue of Liberty (1886), another gift from the French government that figures prominently in New York Harbor. The granite pedestal designed by H.W. DeStuckle was donated by French citizens living in New York. Text: NYC Parks Dept.
Statues In The Park Union Square Park. This impressive bronze equestrian portrait of George Washington (1732-1799), the first president of the United States, is the oldest sculpture in the New York City Parks collection. It was modeled by Henry Kirke Brown (1814-1886) and dedicated in 1856 Working at a specially equipped studio in Brooklyn, and assisted extensively by John Quincy Adams Ward (1830-1910), who himself would attain renown as a sculptor, Brown spent 18 months modeling the horse and rider. The moment Brown depicts is that of Evacuation Day, November 25, 1783, when Washington reclaimed the city from the British. With outstretched hand, he signals to the troops in a gesture of benediction, a sculptural motif indebted to precedents from antiquity, most notably the Marcus Aurelius statue on Rome's Capitaline Hill.
