Ancient Goddesses in New York

About Diana's History in New York

Huge Diana Weather Vane to be Placed on Tower, NYT 1891

A copper statue of Diana, of heroic size, with the hunting costume that mythology says that she wore, and with her bow drawn and an arrow on the string, was taken to the Madison Square Garden yesterday. Today the figure will be lifted about 350 feet and placed on the top of the Garden Tower. In that airy place, it will be adjusted to revolve in the breezes, and the goddess will thus become one of the largest weathervanes in the country. The statue is 18 feet high and is made of finely wrought copper and is gilded. It was designed by Augustus St. Gaudens and was made by W. H. Mullins at Salem, Ohio. It weighs 1,800 pounds. The goddess is represented as posing herself in the chase to shoot an arrow, and one foot is lifted as if she were still on the run. Her drapery, which flutters behind her, is a big sheet of copper, which will catch the wind and swing the figure, while the arrow will point in the direction the wind is blowing.

- The New York Times, September 26, 1891

New Diana of the Tower, NYT 1893

She Will Defy the Elements. The new Diana, brightly gilded, will take her place on the top of the Madison Square Garden tower this afternoon. With her left arm, which holds the bow, protected by the graceful folds of a scarf, she will defy the Winter's blasts and the Summer's sun. This Diana is brand new. She was carefully modeled by Sculptor Augustus St. Gaudens and is about 13 feet in height. The old statue measured 19 feet. It was removed to Chicago over a year ago, where it was greatly admired, and will doubtless remain on the top of the Agricultural Building in the World's Fair grounds.

- New York Times, November 18, 1893

About the Goddess Diana

Diana, the Roman goddess of the hunt, was one of the first feminists of the Mount Olympus set. She was also known as Artemis, in the ancient Greek tradition. A virgin by choice and huntswoman by skill and divine profession, she was the chief hunter of the gods, known as the "Lady of Wild Things." She was fiercely independent and would let no man have her, but she knew her territory well and had many friends to help her along the way. She spent her days in the forest with her posse of animal guides and virginal wood nymph companions. She was famous for always reaching her target with her golden arrows, which are said to have "moaned" as they sped toward her prey. She understood the ways of the wild, the nature of beast and bird, and could gently speak the language of wild nature, yet she was fierce and a force to be reckoned with. She was not afraid to make the kill. With her nymphs and hounds, she hunted in the deepest wilderness, slaughtering stags and lions. For recreation she gathered with her brother Apollo and their favorite friends, the nine Muses, to sing and dance.

She is often pictured as a young woman in a short toga with a bow, arrow, and animal friends in tow. But in New York, in an iconic sculpture and replicas by Augustus Saint-Gaudens, she is naked and wielding a bow. When she dwelled above the world the top of Madison Square Garden in the early 1900s, she caused a stir. Some New Yorkers worried her naked bits may upset the children, or arouse the men. Yet eventually she won them over and became a darling of New York with iconic status like the great goddess Liberty in the harbor. When workers dismantled her from the top of MSG and lowered her down to earth in 1925, New Yorkers felt they lost a friend.

- Laurie Sue Brockway

Sources

Anandashankar Mazumdar, "The Lifecycle of Copyright: 1925 Works Enter the Public Domain | Copyright," The Library of Congress, January 29, 2021, https://blogs.loc.gov/copyright/2021/01/the-lifecycle-of-copyright-1925-works-enter-the-public-domain/.

Getty Images Caption, "Photo Shows Augustus Saint-Gaudens Statue of Diana after Its Removal...," Getty Images, January 26, 2017, https://www.gettyimages.ie/detail/news-photo/photo-shows-augustus-saint-gaudens-statue-of-diana-after-news-photo/640027774?adppopup=true.

Getty Images Caption, "Workmen Begin Removing the Diana Statue from the Top of the Old...," Getty Images, March 2, 2010, https://www.gettyimages.ie/detail/news-photo/workmen-begin-removing-the-diana-statue-from-the-top-of-the-news-photo/97339768?adppopup=true.

Museum of the City of New York Blog, "Diana, by Augustus Saint-Gaudens," MCNY Blog: New York Stories, October 22, 2013, https://blog.mcny.org/2013/10/22/diana-by-augustus-saint-gaudens/.

The Association for Public Art, "Diana by Augustus Saint-Gaudens (1848 - 1907)-Philadelphia," Association for Public Art, accessed March 7, 2024, https://www.associationforpublicart.org/artwork/diana/.

The New York Times, "A Huge Weather Vane: Diana in Copper to Be Placed on the Madison Square Garden Tower.," September 29, 1891.

The New York Times, "NEW DIANA of the TOWER.: She Will Defy the Elements Protected as to Her Left Arm by a Scarf," November 18, 1893, https://www.nytimes.com/1893/11/18/archives/new-diana-of-the-tower-she-will-defy-the-elements-protected-as-to.html.

Tumblr, "New York: The Golden Age," Tumblr, accessed March 7, 2024, https://www.tumblr.com/newyorkthegoldenage/683610844340355072/may-7-1925-after-32-years-the-famous-statue-of.

Captions:

Alamy Limited, "Young Woman Winner of the Crossbow Archery Contest at Nassau Shore Country Club Does a Graceful Terpsichorean Emulation of "the Goddess of the Hunt Stock Photo - Alamy," www.alamy.com, accessed March 7, 2024, https://www.alamy.com/amityville-new-york-august-1-1936-the-young-woman-winner-of-the-crossbow-archery-contest-at-nassau-shore-country-club-does-a-graceful-terpsichorean-emulation-of-the-goddess-of-the-hunt-image557525248.html.

Augustus Saint-Gaudens (Artist), "Diana of the Hunt," www.brooklynmuseum.org (The Brooklyn Museum), accessed April 9, 2024, https://www.brooklynmuseum.org/opencollection/objects/259.

Augustus Saint-Gaudens (Artist), "Diana," The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2020, https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/11999.

Lincoln, A. W. B. (Artist), "Diana's Hunting," NYPL Digital Collections (The Miriam and Ira D. Wallach Division of Art, Prints and Photographs: Art & Architecture Collection), accessed March 7, 2024, https://digitalcollections.nypl.org/items/510d47e2-d7bd-a3d9-e040-e00a18064a99.

Wikipedia Contributors, "Diana (Saint-Gaudens)," Wikipedia (Wikimedia Foundation, January 29, 2024), https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diana_%28Saint-Gaudens%29#/media/File:Diana_MSG.jpg.

Goddess Diana-Artemis

Diana is like an old friend. She is a long-time resident in New York. She appears in many forms, including art, sculpture, and building archetecture. And and sometimes she honored in emulations of human goddesses.