Existing comment:
Equestrian Lafayette is Bartlett's study for a life-size statue of the marquis de Lafayette given by the United States to the French government in 1908 in gratitude for the French gift of the Statue of Liberty. The Museum's model for the French piece was submitted to the jury of selection for the sculptural gift to France around 1899; it won Bartlett the commission. The sculpture was financed by schoolchildren, who gave coins to the Lafayette Monument Fund as they studied the history of American Revolution. For additional funding, Congress authorized the striking of fifty thousand Lafayette dollar coins to be sold at two dollars each; these were later used as souvenirs rather than currency. |