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The concept ofliberty has frequently been represented bypersonifications, often loosely shown as a female classicalgoddess.[1] Examples includeMarianne, thenational personification of theFrench Republic and its values ofLiberté, Égalité, Fraternité, and the female Liberty portrayed in artworks, on United States coinsbeginning in 1793, and many other depictions. These descend from images onancient Roman coins of theRoman goddessLibertas and from various developments from theRenaissance onwards. TheDutch Maiden was among the first, re-introducing thecap of liberty on aliberty pole featured in many types of image, though not using thePhrygian cap style that became conventional. The 1886Statue of Liberty (Liberty Enlightening the World) byFrédéric Auguste Bartholdi is a well-known example in art, a gift from France to the United States.
Theancient RomangoddessLibertas was honored during thesecond Punic War (218 to 201 BC) by a temple erected on theAventine Hill inRome by the father ofTiberius Gracchus.[2] In a highly political gesture, a temple for her was raised in 58 BC byPublius Clodius Pulcher on the site ofMarcus Tullius Cicero's house after it had been razed.[3] When depicted as a standing figure, on the reverse of coins, she usually holds out, but never wears, apileus, the soft cap that symbolised the granting of freedom to former slaves. She also carries a rod, which formed part of the ceremony formanumission. In the 18th century, thepileus turned into the similarPhrygian cap carried on a pole by English-speaking "Liberty" figures, and then worn by Marianne and other 19th-century personifications, as the "cap of liberty".[4]
Libertas had been important under theRoman Republic, and was somewhat uncomfortably co-opted by the empire;[5] it was not seen as an innate right, but as granted to some under Roman law.[6] Her attribute of the pileus appeared on theIdes of March coin of the assassins ofJulius Caesar, defenders of the Roman republic, between two daggers with the inscription "EID MAR" (Eidibus Martiis – on theIdes of March).[7]
The medieval republics, mostly in Italy, greatly valued their liberty, and often use the word, but produce very few direct personifications. One exception, showing just the cap of liberty between daggers, a copy of coins by the assassins ofJulius Caesar, featured on a medal struck byLorenzino de' Medici to commemorate his assassination of his cousinAlessandro de' Medici, Duke of Florence in 1547.[8] Liberty featured inemblem books, usually with her cap; the most popular, theIconologia ofCesare Ripa, showed the cap held on a pole by the 1611 edition.[9]
With the rise ofnationalism and new states, many nationalist personifications included a strong element of liberty, perhaps culminating in theStatue of Liberty. The long poemLiberty by the ScottishJames Thomson (1734), is a lengthymonologue spoken by the "Goddess of Liberty", "characterized as British Liberty", describing her travels through the ancient world, and then English and British history, before the resolution of theGlorious Revolution of 1688 confirms her position there.[10] Thomson also wrote the lyrics forRule Britannia, and the two personifications were often combined as a personified "British Liberty".[11]
A large monument, originally called the "Column of British Liberty", now usually just the "Column to Liberty", was begun in the 1750s on hisGibside estate outsideNewcastle-on-Tyne by the hugely wealthy SirGeorge Bowes, reflecting hisWhig politics. Set at the top of a steep hillock, the monument itself is taller thanNelson's Column in London, and topped by a bronze female figure, originallygilded, carrying a cap of liberty on a pole.[12] In other images, she took the seated form already very familiar from the British copper coinage, whereBritannia had first appeared in 1672, with shield but carrying the cap on a rod as aliberty pole, rather than her usualtrident.[13]
In the run up to theAmerican War of Independence, this conflated figure of Britannia/Liberty was attractive to American colonists agitating for the full set of British civil rights, and from 1770 some American newspapers adopted her for their masthead. When war broke out, the Britannia element quickly disappeared, but a classical-looking Liberty still appealed, and was now sometimes just labelled "America".[14] In the 1790sColumbia, who had been sometimes present in literature for some decades, emerged as a common name for this figure. Her position was cemented by the popular songHail, Columbia (1798).[15]
By the time of theFrench Revolution the modern type of imagery was well-established, and the French figure acquired the name ofMarianne from 1792. Unlike her predecessors, she normally wore thecap of Liberty on her head, rather than carrying it on a pole or lance. In 1793 theNotre Dame de Paris cathedral was turned into a "Temple of Reason" and, for a brief time, the Goddess of Liberty replaced theVirgin Mary on several altars.[16]
TheGreat Seal of France, applied to the official copies of legislation, had a Marianne with Phrygian cap of liberty from 1792, until she was replaced the next year by aHercules afterJacques-Louis David. A standing Liberty, withfasces and cap on a pole, was on the seal of Napoleon'sFrench Consulate,[17] before being replaced by his head. Liberty returned to the seal with theFrench Second Republic in 1848, seated amid symbols of agriculture and industry, designed byJacques-Jean Barre.[18] She carriesfasces on her lap, now wears aradiant crown with seven spikes or rays, and leans on arudder. After a gap with theSecond French Empire, a version of the 1848 design was used by theFrench Third Republic and under subsequent republics to the present day. The radiant crown, never used in antiquity for Libertas (but for the sun godSol Invictus and some later emperors), was adopted byFrédéric Auguste Bartholdi for theStatue of Liberty.[19] This was conceived in the 1860s, under the French Second Republic, when Liberty no longer featured on the seal or in French officialiconography. The Great Seal's rudder was another original borrowing from classical iconography. In Roman art it (called agubernaculum) was the usual attribute ofFortuna, or "Lady Luck", representing her control of the changeable fortunes of life.[20]
As well as such dignified representations, all these figures very frequently figured in thepolitical cartoons that were becoming extremely popular in all the countries concerned over this period. TheNapoleonic Wars produced a particular outpouring of cartoons on all sides.[21]
In the 19th century variousnational personifications took on this form, some wearing the cap of liberty. TheDutch Maiden, accompanied by theLeo Belgicus became the official symbol of theBatavian Republic established after the French occupied theNetherlands.[22]
In the United States, "Liberty" is often depicted with five-pointed stars, as they appear on the American flag, usually held in a raised hand. Another hand may hold asword which points downward. Depictions which are familiar to Americans include the following:[23]
In the early decades of the 20th century, Liberty mostly displacedColumbia, who was widely used as thenational personification of the US during the 19th century.[25]
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