An epic moment in time on New York Bay captured by Edward Moran, the Statue of Liberty comes to America on June 20, 1885 onboard the French Ship ISERE, and is met by a huge contingent of waterborne onlookers. Three hundred and fifty pieces packed securely within 214 wooden crates, the Lady was designed by Frederic-Auguste Bartholdi as the shining symbol of the personal freedom of life in America. Gifted from the French people, she sailed aboard the white-hulled merchant ship escorted by a French Naval Frigate, crossing the Atlantic in 50 days. Her welcoming group includes ensign flag-dressed ships representing the world's countries, numerous cannon salutes, well dressed people waving from near vessels, and tugboats follow awaiting their orders.
Moran spent his professional career painting scenes of New York's many harbors. His first-person participation in greeting the ship and committing it to a painting is telling of the emotional upswing the project earned after monetary difficulties were overcome. With the monument's epic formal title "Liberty Enlightens the World", and as a remembrance of France's assistance in the American Revolution, she became and remains the most American symbol of the right to freedom, especially for the millions that have emigrated under her watch to Ellis Island, now part of Statue of Liberty National Monument, along with the Statue's home, formerly Bedloe's Island. This painting, in its beautiful ornate original frame, is a highly historic tribute to the artist endeavor, the Atlantic crossing and freedom.
