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10 THE CAPITOL DOME THE LATROBE-FRANZONI SITTING LIBERTY Latrobe first mentioned the idea of a Statue of Liberty in his 6 March 1805 letter to Philip Mazzei (fig. 13), requesting assistance in hiring sculptors in Italy to work on the Capi- tol. Latrobe wrote to Mazzei at President Jefferson's behest. Mazzei and Jefferson had maintained a varied and robust correspondence over the decades since Mazzei left America; he cheerfully referred to America as his adoptive country and was glad to assist his American friends in the effort to build the Capitol. In the letter, Latrobe asked Mazzei to recruit "a good Sculptor of Architectural decorations" for the south (House) wing. He also asked Mazzei to obtain a bid price from Antonio Canova, one of the most celebrated sculptors work- ing in Rome, to carve the "sitting figure of Liberty" for the House chamber. On 12 September 1805 Mazzei responded that hiring Canova was impossible due to the artist being overbooked. Mazzei also had requested a price from the esteemed Danish sculptor Bertel Thorvaldsen, also working in Rome, but the price was exorbitant. Then Mazzei told of the young sculptors whom he did hire, Giuseppe Franzoni and his brother-in-law, Giovanni Andrei. Mazzei backed up his selection with the claim that Franzoni "will soon be a second Canova." The two new hires departed Italy by ship with their families in November 1805 bound for the United States. 10 THE DESIGN AND CREATION OF THE SITTING LIBERTY On 28 March 1806, the two Italian sculptors Franzoni and Andrei arrived from Rome. In Mazzei's estimation, Franzoni's "masterful strocks [strokes]" would make him a first rate sculptor of the figures, and Andrei would be a first rate sculp- tor of the flora and decorative pieces. On 29 May, in a letter to Mazzei, Latrobe lamented that Franzoni must carve the large eagle in the frieze before he can even "think much of our Statue of Liberty." For the time being, "I have distributed the department of animals to Franzoni, and of vegetables to Andrei." Based on this letter, no model existed of the Statue of Liberty as of 29 May 1806. 11 But, on 2 June 1806, a model was underway, or so it seemed. Latrobe wrote to his brother Christian: "Flaxman is I think one of the first Sculptors in the world. Franzoni was his pupil. He is engaged in modeling for me a figure of Liberty, sitting, of colossal size. It promises to be a classical Work. This is one of many efforts I am making to introduce into this country something superior to the mean sti[le] brought hither and spread by English joiners and measurers, and to the absurd impracticalities of American book architects." 12 Fig. 12. George Washington (painted wood, 1814), by William Rush COURTESY OF INDEPENDENCE NATIONAL HISTORICAL PARK