''Wisconsin'' is a statue on top of the

Wisconsin Capitol Building The Wisconsin State Capitol, located in Madison, Wisconsin, houses both chambers of the Wisconsin legislature along with the Wisconsin Supreme Court and the Office of the Governor. Completed in 1917, the building is the fifth to serve as the Wi ...

created by

Daniel Chester French Daniel Chester French (April 20, 1850 – October 7, 1931) was an American sculptor of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, best known for his 1874 sculpture ''The Minute Man'' in Concord, Massachusetts, and his 1920 monume ...

History

The ''Wisconsin'' statue on the dome was sculpted during 1913-1914 by

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

. His model was

Audrey Munson Audrey Marie Munson (June 8, 1891 – February 20, 1996) was an American model (person), artist's model and film actress, considered to be "America's first supermodel." In her time, she was variously known as "Miss Manhattan", the "Panama–Paci ...

. The statue of a woman on top of the Capitol dome is named "Wisconsin," though it is often misidentified as "Forward" (another statue depicting a woman, a replica of which was on the Capitol grounds at the top of State Street). Perhaps that's because, according to the Wisconsin Historical Society, the statue was “placed on the Capitol dome as a symbol of the state’s motto, ‘Forward’” and to represent “the spirit of Wisconsin progress.” The statue was sculpted by Daniel Chester French, who also created the Abraham Lincoln statue for the

Lincoln Memorial The Lincoln Memorial is a U.S. national memorial built to honor the 16th president of the United States, Abraham Lincoln. It is on the western end of the National Mall in Washington, D.C., across from the Washington Monument, and is in the ...

. "Wisconsin" looks toward Lake Monona with her right hand outstretched, while her left hand cradles a globe with an eagle perched on it. On top of her helmet are clusters of grapes and the state animal, the badger. French sculpted the 15 foot, five inch, more than three-ton statue in 1914 for a cost of $20,325. The statue is 23 1/2 karat gold-gilded bronze.

Description

This work, ''Wisconsin'', consists of an allegorical figure reminiscent of

Athena Athena or Athene, often given the epithet Pallas, is an ancient Greek goddess associated with wisdom, warfare, and handicraft who was later syncretized with the Roman goddess Minerva. Athena was regarded as the patron and protectress of ...

, dressed in Greek garb, her right arm outstretched to symbolize the state motto, "Forward", and wearing a helmet topped by a

badger Badgers are short-legged omnivores in the family Mustelidae (which also includes the otters, wolverines, martens, minks, polecats, weasels, and ferrets). Badgers are a polyphyletic rather than a natural taxonomic grouping, being united b ...

, the Wisconsin state animal. The figure's left hand holds a globe with an eagle perched on top. ''Wisconsin'' is tall and weighs . The lady is also in a mural in the Wisconsin House of Representatives.

References

1914 sculptures Culture of Madison, Wisconsin Outdoor sculptures in Wisconsin Personifications of country subdivisions Sculptures by Daniel Chester French Sculptures of birds in the United States Mammals in art Finial figures Allegorical sculptures in the United States {{US-sculpture-stub