Monday, June 4, 2007

Christopher Columbus (1933) - by Carl Brioschi




Christopher Columbus - by Carl Brioschi

 Installed: 1933

Bronze figure / H 15 ft


Location: Grant Park, Columbus Dr. at Roosevelt Rd.

Dedicated on Italian Day in 1933, 
at A Century of Progress, (the city's second world's fair) 
from the Italian American Community of Illinois.






Christopher Columbus (1933) - by Carl Brioschi


Christopher Columbus (1933) - by Carl Brioschi

Christopher Columbus - by Carl Brioschi


Bronze statue of Columbus as he surveys the horizon, with a map in hand.

Relief symbols of the Santa Maria, 
one of the 3 ships that sailed to the “New World.”

An inscription on the marble base records the historic flight of aviator General Italo Balbo and his squadron of seaplanes across the Atlantic, from Italy to Chicago. 


Columbus’ ship the Santa Maria
Columbus’ ship the Santa Maria


Sculptural embellishments in relief roundels on the pedestal illustrate... 
Columbus’ ship, the Santa Maria; 
his tutor Toscanelli, who taught him the world was round. 
Amerigo Vespucci, for whom the new world was named and 
the City seal of Genoa, his birthplace. 

The busts at the four corners signify faith, courage, freedom and strength.


Carl Brioschi [1879-1941], was born in Milan and received his training in art in Italy before immigrating to New York at the turn of the century. He settled in Minnesota, where he also sculpted a Columbus monument for the State Capitol Building. Brioschi’s Chicago monument not only commemorated the arrival of Christopher Columbus [1451-1506] to the New World, but also conveyed the spirit of President Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s New Deal during the Great Depression.

 


No comments: