| Leif, the Discoverer | |
|---|---|
 | |
 | |
| Artist | Anne Whitney |
| Year | 1887 |
| Type | Public Art, Sculpture (bronze, red sandstone) |
| Dimensions | 240 cm(96 in) |
| Location | Milwaukee, Wisconsin, U.S. |
| 43°2′39.258″N87°53′50.911″W / 43.04423833°N 87.89747528°W | |
Leif, the Discoverer is a bronze sculpture of Leif Ericson created by American sculptor Anne Whitney. The statue was erected on November 15, 1887 in Juneau Park in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, United States. [1]
The figure is approximately 8 feet tall; the upper base is approximately 110 x 84 x 84 inches; the lower base is approximately 12 × 9 x 96 inches. The sculpture is bronze; the base is red sandstone. [2]
Shading his eyes to scan the distance, Leif Ericson stands on a large red sandstone pedestal. Unlike other depictions of Ericson, here he is youthful and clean-shaven. He wears a scale armor shirt, ornamented with breast plates and a studded belt. Underneath, he wears a tunic and leggings with leather sandals. He carries a powder horn over his shoulder and a knife in a decorative sheath at his side. On the sandstone base, the inscription reads, Leif, the discoverer/ son of Erik/ who sailed from Iceland/ and landed on this continent/ A.D. 1000. In runic letters, it also reads, Leif, son of Erik the Red. [2]
The first casting of the statue resides in Boston, Massachusetts on Commonwealth Avenue. In November 1887, the Milwaukee copy was erected; however, at the request of its donor, Mrs. Joseph T. Gilbert, there was no dedication ceremony. [3]
By the 1990s, evidence of structural instability, manifest through cracks, erosion, and the deterioration of caulking in the pedestal was observable. [2] In February 1995, the statue was moved 20 feet to the west to prevent it falling off the bluff. Additionally, in September of that year, the statue was cleaned and covered in acrylic resin. During the cleaning, residue of gold size was found, indicating the statue may have originally been gilded. [4] The recently moved and restored statue was dedicated on May 17, 1996, Norway's annual Constitution Day celebration. [5]
In October 2001, the Sons of Norway Fosselyngen Lodge held a ceremony to celebrate the recent addition of a lighting system for the statue, which cost $3,800 (equivalent to $6,539in 2023). The funds were bequested by the late lodge member, Duane Olson. The addition was a joint effort between the Fosselyngen Lodge, Milwaukee County and the city of Milwaukee. [6] This lighting system was replaced, and the statue again professionally cleaned, during a project by Juneau Park Friends in 2017. [7]
Leif Erikson, also known as Leif the Lucky, was a Norse explorer who is thought to have been the first European to set foot on continental America, approximately half a millennium before Christopher Columbus. According to the sagas of Icelanders, he established a Norse settlement at Vinland, which is usually interpreted as being coastal North America. There is ongoing speculation that the settlement made by Leif and his crew corresponds to the remains of a Norse settlement found in Newfoundland, Canada, called L'Anse aux Meadows, which was occupied approximately 1,000 years ago.
Leif Erikson Day is an annual observance that occurs on October 9. It honors Leif Erikson, the Norse explorer who, in approximately 1000, led the first Europeans believed to have set foot on the continent of North America.
Commonwealth Avenue is a major street in the cities of Boston and Newton, Massachusetts. It begins at the western edge of the Boston Public Garden, and continues west through the neighborhoods of the Back Bay, Kenmore Square, Boston University, Allston, Brighton and Chestnut Hill. It continues as part of Route 30 through Newton until it crosses the Charles River at the border of the town of Weston.
Anne Whitney was an American sculptor and poet. She made full-length and bust sculptures of prominent political and historical figures, and her works are in major museums in the United States. She received prestigious commissions for monuments. Two statues of Samuel Adams were made by Whitney and are located in Washington, D.C.'s National Statuary Hall Collection and in front of Faneuil Hall in Boston. She also created two monuments to Leif Erikson.
Richard Henry Park was an American sculptor who worked in marble and bronze. He was commissioned to do work by the wealthy of the nineteenth century. He did a marble bust of John Plankinton, an astute businessman who founded the meat industry in Wisconsin and was "Milwaukee's foremost citizen."
Gertie the Duck is an icon of Milwaukee, Wisconsin history and the subject of a 4-foot-tall (1.2 m) bronze sculpture by American artist Gwendolyn Gillen. It was installed on the Wisconsin Avenue bridge in September 1997.
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Spirit of Commerce is a public artwork by German artist Gustav Haug located in Jackson Park, which is on the south side of Milwaukee, Wisconsin. This zinc sculpture is 15 feet tall and sits on a red granite pedestal near the park's lagoon. It is the oldest public sculpture in Milwaukee.
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The Juneau Monument is a public artwork by American artist Richard Henry Park located on the grounds of Juneau Park, which is in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. The base of the statue is made of limestone. On top of the base is a bronze statue of Solomon Juneau. On each side of the base are bronze reliefs. The statue is 5 feet (1.5 m) wide by 15 feet (4.6 m) high.
The Washington Monument is a public artwork by American artist Richard Henry Park located on the Court of Honor in front of the Milwaukee Public Library Central Library, which is near Marquette University in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. The bronze sculpture is a full-length portrait of a 43-year-old George Washington, and stands on a granite pedestal; a bronze woman points up at Washington while a child, also made out of bronze, gazes upward. It was sculpted by Richard Henry Park and was erected in 1885 with philanthropic financial support from Elizabeth Plankinton. The statue was restored between July 2016 and January 2018.
General Douglas MacArthur is a public artwork by American artist Robert L. Dean, a 1953 graduate of the United States Military Academy. Previously, the statue was located in MacArthur Square in the Milwaukee Civic Center Plaza, downtown Milwaukee, Wisconsin, USA. On June 7, 2014, it was relocated to its new waterfront location at Veterans' Park, next to the Milwaukee County War Memorial Center. With full military honors, the bronze statue of General Douglas MacArthur was rededicated at its new home on June 7, 2014. The ceremony was the capstone event for the MacArthur Memorial Week, held nearly 35 years after the statue's original dedication on June 8, 1979.
The statue of Robert Burns in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, is a work of public art by the Scottish artist William Grant Stevenson, RSA. The statue is a memorial to the world renowned poet, bard, and Scotsman Robert Burns. The bronze statue stands upon a plinth of Nova Scotia pink granite. The plinth is adorned with two bronze bas relief panels depicting scenes from Burns' poetry. The monument was donated to the City of Milwaukee by James A. Bryden.
An equestrian statue of Tadeusz Kościuszko by the Italian and American artist Gaetano Trentanove is located on the south side of Milwaukee, Wisconsin, in the United States. The bronze equestrian sculpture portrays Kościuszko in his military uniform and hat. It is located at South 9th Place and West Lincoln Avenue in Kosciuszko Park. The statue was placed in October 1904 but was not officially unveiled until June 18, 1905 with a speech by Archbishop F. Symon from Rome. The statue was moved to its present location in 1951 and a celebratory unveiling was held on September 15 of that year.
The John Plankinton statue is a six foot (1.8 m) lifelike representation of the businessman and industrialist. It took the sculptor Richard Henry Park six months to make and was initially placed in the Plankinton House Hotel in downtown Milwaukee in 1892. The property in 1916 was redeveloped into the Plankinton Arcade shopping plaza. The property was again redeveloped in the 1970s into the John Plankinton Mall at the same location where the hotel once stood. The latest redevelopment of the property occurred in 1980 to 1982 and renamed the Shops of Grand Avenue. The statue was restored in 2012 and placed on a 15 foot (4.6 m) pedestal becoming a permanent part of the shopping plaza. It is now viewed by hundreds of shoppers daily.
Juneau Park, located in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, is situated on a bluff overlooking Lake Michigan. It is popular for its short distance to downtown Milwaukee, lakefront walking path, and vantage point for fireworks displays.
Leif Eriksson is an outdoor statue by Anne Whitney at the west end of the Commonwealth Avenue Mall in Boston, Massachusetts, United States. Installed in 1887, it was the first public sculpture to honor the Norse explorer in the New World.
The Leif Erikson statue is a monumental statue honoring Leif Erikson in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Located in the city's Humboldt Park, the statue was designed by Sigvald Asbjørnsen and erected in 1901.
Leifr Eiricsson, sometimes called the Leif Eiricsson Memorial, is statue of Norse explorer Leif Erikson created by American artist Alexander Stirling Calder. The artwork was commissioned by the United States government as a gift to the Icelandic people for the 1,000th anniversary of the Alþingi in 1930. The statue was unveiled on July 17, 1932, in Reykjavík, Iceland atop a hill overlooking the city.
Last evening the statue of Leif Ericson was placed in position at Juneau park, and now stands in bold relief against the sky as the spectator approaches from Martin street.
