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'''''Prometheus''''' is a 1934 [[gilding|gilded]], [[cast bronze|cast]] [[bronze sculpture]] by [[Paul Manship]], located above the lower plaza at [[Rockefeller Center]] in [[Manhattan]], [[New York City]].<ref name=roussel/>
Created by [[Roman Bronze Works]] in [[Queens]], the statue is {{cvt|18|ft|m}} tall and weighs 8 tons.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1934/01/10/94483422.pdf |title=Statue in Center Plaza: Giant Figure of Prometheus Set at Rockefeller Fountain. |date=1934 |work=[[New York Times]] |access-date=2017-11-11 |issn=0362-4331}}</ref>▼
It depicts the Greek legend of the Titan [[Prometheus]], who was the son of the Titan [[Iapetus]] and the Oceanid [[Clymene (mythology)|Clymene]], brought fire to mankind by stealing it from the [[Chariot of the Sun]], which resulted in [[Zeus]] chaining [[Prometheus]] and sending an eagle to prey upon his continually regenerating liver.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.rockefellercenter.com/art-and-history/art/prometheus/ |title=Prometheus |publisher=[[Rockefeller Center]] |access-date=2014-06-02 |archive-date=April 28, 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140428173801/http://www.rockefellercenter.com/art-and-history/art/prometheus/ |url-status=dead }}</ref>▼
It was created by the [[Roman Bronze Works]], a subsidiary of the [[General Bronze Corporation]] in [[Corona, Queens]].<ref name="NYT Bronze buys Tiffany Studios: again in control">{{cite news |title=BRONZE CORPORATION BUYS TIFFANY STUDIOS; John Polachek Again in Control of Metal Working Plant Which He Once Managed. |url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1928/01/31/issue.html |access-date=29 December 2023 |agency=The New York Times |issue=Business & Finance |publisher=The New York Times Publishing |date=31 January 1928}}</ref><ref name="NYT Polachek dies">{{cite news |title=John Polachek, An Industrialist |url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1955/04/18/93802563.pdf?pdf_redirect=true&ip=0 |access-date=18 December 2023 |work=The New York Times |date=18 April 1955 |location=Obituaries |page=22 |quote=In 1903, he became a supervisor of bronze manufacturing for Tiffany Studios. Founder of General Bronze Corporation Dies – Products Adorn Leading Buildings}}</ref><ref name="Tiffany Nash book">{{cite book |last1=Eidelberg |first1=Martin |last2=McClelland |first2=Nany |title=Behind the Scenes of Tiffany Glassmaking: the Nash Notebooks |date=2001 |publisher=St. Martin's Press |isbn=978-0-312-28265-3 |pages=2–10 |edition=1st |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Id9kQgAACAAJ}}</ref><ref name="Tiffany Studios">{{cite web |title=A Chronology of Louis C. Tiffany and Tiffany Studios |url=https://www.tiffanystudios.org/tiffany-chronology.html |website=Tiffany Studios |access-date=17 December 2023}}</ref><ref name="Tifffany Morse Museum">{{cite web |title=Tiffany Studios |url=https://morsemuseum.org/louis-comfort-tiffany/tiffany-studios/ |website=The Charles Hosmer Morse Museum of American Art |access-date=17 December 2023}}</ref><ref name="Carter Museum with GBC/Roman Bronze Works merger">{{cite web |title=Museum Archivist |url=https://files.archivists.org/groups/museum/newsletter/pastissues/pdfs/vol18no1.pdf |website=Archivists.org |publisher=Amon Carter Museum of American Art |access-date=23 December 2023 |location=Fort Worth, TX |date=June 2005}}</ref> The Roman Bronze Works had long been a sub-contractor to [[Louis Comfort Tiffany|Louis Comfort Tiffany's]] [[Tiffany glass|Tiffany Studios]]<ref>{{cite news |url=https://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9B0DEFDD173CF934A15751C1A961948260 |first=Christopher |last=Gray |title=Streetscapes: Tiffany Studios; In Queens, a Remembrance of a Luminous Legend |work=The New York Times |date=27 December 1987 |access-date=25 September 2008}}</ref> which was then bought out by the [[General Bronze Corporation]] in 1928.<ref name="NYT Bronze buys Tiffany Studios: again in control"/><ref name="Brooklyn Eagle - Polachek">{{cite news |last1=Erler |first1=Diana |title=Creating a New Bronze Age |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-brooklyn-daily-eagle/55230082/ |access-date=28 December 2023 |agency=The Brooklyn Daily Eagle |date=19 August 1928 |page=75}}</ref><ref name="Roman Bronze Works History">{{cite book |last1=Rosenfeld |first1=Lucy |title=A Century of American Sculpture: The Roman Bronze Works Foundry |date=2002 |publisher=Schiffer Publishing |isbn=978-0-7643-1519-0 |page=11 |edition=1st |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=aB43AQAAIAAJ&q=subsidiary%20of%20general%20bronze%20corporation}}</ref> Under the ownership of General Bronze, the Roman Bronze Works produced some of its finest bronze artwork from sculptors like [[Paul Manship]], [[Rene Chambellan]], [[Gaston Lachaise]] and [[Lee Lawrie]].<ref name="Columbia-GBC">{{cite web |last1=General Bronze Corporation |title=The General Bronze Corporation and Rene Paul Chambellan |url=https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=nnc2.ark:/13960/s258s75zhfq&seq=8 |website=Internet Archive, Columbia University |publisher=General Bronze Corporation |access-date=17 December 2023 |year=1946}}</ref><ref name="Roman Bronze Works History" /><ref name="Brooklyn Eagle - Polachek" />
== Description ==▼
The "Prometheus" is set against the west wall of a sunken plaza in front of [[30 Rockefeller Plaza]], and what was once the [[RCA|RCA Building]]. It is visible from [[Fifth Avenue]]. The "Prometheus Fountain," with its attendant restaurants, [[ice skating]] rink (winter), has become one of the most visited and photographed places in New York City, and certainly Rockefeller Center's most photographed, especially around Christmas time with the lighting of its [[Rockefeller Center Christmas Tree|Christmas Tree]].<ref name="NYC tourism bureau">{{cite web |title=Rockefeller Center Christmas Tree Lighting Ceremony: Street Closures & Related Information |url=https://www.nyc.gov/site/nypd/news/tr1127/rockefeller-center-christmas-tree-lighting-ceremony-street-closures-related-information#/0 |website=nyc.gov |date=November 27, 2018 |access-date=4 January 2024}}</ref>
▲
▲It depicts the Greek legend of the Titan [[Prometheus]], who was the son of the Titan [[Iapetus]] and the Oceanid [[Clymene (mythology)|Clymene]], brought fire to mankind by stealing it from the [[Chariot of the Sun]], which resulted in [[Zeus]] chaining [[Prometheus]] and sending an eagle to prey upon his continually regenerating liver.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.rockefellercenter.com/art-and-history/art/prometheus/ |title=Prometheus |publisher=[[Rockefeller Center]] |access-date=2014-06-02 |archive-date=April 28, 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140428173801/http://www.rockefellercenter.com/art-and-history/art/prometheus/
▲== Description ==
The [[recumbence|recumbent]] figure is in a {{convert|60|by|16|ft|m|adj=on}} fountain basin in front of a gray, rectangular wall in the Lower Plaza,<ref name=adams/> at the middle of Rockefeller Center.<ref>{{cite fednyc |page=336}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Krinsky |first=Carol H. |author-link=Carol Herselle Krinsky |title=Rockefeller Center |publisher=[[Oxford University Press]] |year=1978 |isbn=978-0-19-502404-3 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=7xlDAQAAIAAJ |page=64}}</ref> Prometheus falls through a ring – representing the heavens, and inscribed with the [[astrological sign|signs of the zodiac]] - toward the earth (the mountain) and the sea (the pool).<ref>{{cite web |title=The story of Prometheus |url=https://www.rockefellercenter.com/blog/2014/04/09/rock-history2/ |website=Rock History}}</ref> The inscription – a paraphrase from [[Aeschylus]] – on the granite wall behind, reads: "Prometheus, teacher in every art, [[theft of fire|brought the fire]] that hath proved to mortals a means to mighty ends."<ref name=adams>{{Cite web|url=http://www.neighborhoodpreservationcenter.org/db/bb_files/1985RockefellerCenter.pdf|title=Rockefeller Center Designation Report|date=1985|publisher=[[Government of New York City|City of New York]]; [[New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission]]|last=Adams|first=Janet|page=168|access-date=2017-12-06|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171107113311/http://www.neighborhoodpreservationcenter.org/db/bb_files/1985RockefellerCenter.pdf|archive-date=2017-11-07
''Prometheus'' is considered the main artwork of Rockefeller Center, and is one of the complex's more well-known works. The seasonal [[Rockefeller Center Christmas Tree]] is erected above the statue every winter. During the rest of the year, ''Prometheus'' serves as the main aesthetic draw in the lower plaza's outdoor restaurant.<ref name=roussel/>{{rp|105}}
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=== Associated artworks ===
The statue was initially flanked by Manship's ''Youth'' and ''Maiden'' - the "Mankind Figures" - which occupied the granite shelves to the rear.<ref>{{cite web |title=Photo showing the original setup |url=https://www.christies.com/media-library/images/features/articles/2018/05/01/how-the-rockefellers-built-new-york-skyline/lookingdownonthefountainfeaturingyouthprometheusandmaiden1934.jpg?w=3780 |date=1934 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20190612125622/https://www.christies.com/media-library/images/features/articles/2018/05/01/how-the-rockefellers-built-new-york-skyline/lookingdownonthefountainfeaturingyouthprometheusandmaiden1934.jpg?w=3780|archive-date = 2019-06-12}}</ref>
They were relocated to [[Palazzo d'Italia]] from 1939 to 1984 because Manship thought they did not fit visually.<ref name=adams/><ref name=roussel/>{{rp|101}} Originally gilded, they were given a brown [[patina]] when restored. They were moved to the staircase above the skating rink in 2001, as if they are "announcing Prometheus".<ref>{{cite web |title=''Mankind Figures'' (''Maiden'' and ''Youth'') |url=https://www.rockefellercenter.com/art-and-history/art/mankind-figures-maiden-and-youth/ |website=Art Exhibits of NYC: Rockefeller Center |access-date=June 12, 2019 |archive-date=July 20, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200720172837/https://www.rockefellercenter.com/art-and-history/art/mankind-figures-maiden-and-youth/
▲They were relocated to [[Palazzo d'Italia]] from 1939 to 1984 because Manship thought they did not fit visually.<ref name=adams/><ref name=roussel/>{{rp|101}} Originally gilded, they were given a brown [[patina]] when restored. They were moved to the staircase above the skating rink in 2001, as if they are "announcing Prometheus".<ref>{{cite web |title=''Mankind Figures'' (''Maiden'' and ''Youth'') |url=https://www.rockefellercenter.com/art-and-history/art/mankind-figures-maiden-and-youth/ |website=Art Exhibits of NYC: Rockefeller Center |access-date=June 12, 2019 |archive-date=July 20, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200720172837/https://www.rockefellercenter.com/art-and-history/art/mankind-figures-maiden-and-youth/ |url-status=dead }}</ref> Today their original locations are covered with plants.
==History==
Manship's early passion for [[Ancient Greece|Ancient Greece's]] mythological heroes, most notably [[Heracles]], can be attributed to his apprenticeships of two [[Danes|Danish-American]] brothers — [[Gutzon Borglum|Gutzon]] and [[Solon Borglum]] — and later to [[Isidore Konti]].<ref name="Manship - Rand">{{cite book |last1=Rand |first1=Harry |title=Paul Manship |date=1989 |publisher=Smithsonian Institution Publishing |location=Washington, DC |isbn=0-87474-807-0 |pages=1–56 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jTeC_rnczfwC&q=Borglum%27s%20specialty |access-date=4 January 2024 |language=en}}</ref> It was these masters who taught Manship the classical "[[Archaic Greek Sculpture|archaic Greek figurative sculpture]] which is so much more abstract than [[Hellenistic art|Hellenistic]] or [[Roman art]], and particularly impressed Manship," according to Harry Rand.<ref name="Manship - Rand" />
Throughout his travels to [[Italy]] and [[Greece]] during the early 1900s, Manship's drawings from that time period illustrate how he was inspired with "archaic Greek" fundamentals. He was the "first American sculptor to exalt such principles over the classical art of [[Phidias]] and [[Polykleitos]]."<ref name="Manship - Rand" /> Manship was transfixed by the archaic style and simplicity as seen in the [[Artemision Bronze]], a statue of either [[Zeus]] or [[Poseidon]], on display at the [[National Archaeological Museum, Athens|National Archaeological Museum]] in [[Athens, Greece]].<ref name="Manship - Rand" /> Manship's "Spear Thrower"<ref name="Spear thrower NGA">{{cite web |title=Paul Manship - Javelin Thrower, 1921 |url=https://www.nga.gov/collection/art-object-page.176317.html |website=nga.gov |publisher=National Gallery of Art |access-date=5 January 2024 |location=Washington, DC |quote=Corcoran Collection (Gift of Mrs. Jefferson Patterson)}}</ref> and his "Atalanta," exhibit these same graceful, sublime curves, as seen in the [[Artemision Bronze]].<ref name="Manship - Rand" />[[File:WLA amart 1921 Atalanta.jpg|thumb|left|Manship's ''Atalanta'', 1921, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington, D.C.]]
== Models ==▼
When he was notified by the Rockefeller Center architects that he was chosen over countless others, he wasn't surprised. It was a moment Manship had prepared himself for all his life. According to Rand, "the Rockefeller Center architects knew that he alone was the only sculptor that they could count on."<ref name="Manship - Rand" /> What had been marvelous in his "archaic" apprenticeships became magical in his ''Prometheus''.<ref name="Manship - Rand" />
{{Quote box
The model for Prometheus was Leonardo Nole ({{circa|1907}}–1998), an Italian-American lifeguard from [[New Rochelle]] who modeled for college art classes. He spent three months posing for this assignment in the spring of 1933. After World War II, he became a postal worker.<ref name=obit>{{cite web | last=Thomas | first=Robert McG. Jr. |author-link=Robert McG. Thomas Jr. | title=Leonardo Nole, 91, Prometheus Statue's Model | website=The New York Times | date=February 27, 1998 | url=https://www.nytimes.com/1998/02/27/nyregion/leonardo-nole-91-prometheus-statue-s-model.html | access-date=January 11, 2019}}</ref> ▼
|quote = "Manship produced truly derivative work; he had studied the sculptors of other ages firsthand, and the distillate of his observations formed the elements of his style. The process Manship went through was the same "as any Greek artist who had been taught to accept the canons of art formulated by the Masters""
|author = Harry Rand
Manship's assistant Angelo Colombo did most of the detail work when Nole was posing. [[Henry Kreis]], another assistant, sculpted the hair.{{refn|group=N|"Kreis"<ref>{{cite book|title=Paul Manship: Changing Taste in America|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=FeOwAAAAIAAJ|year=1985|publisher=Minnesota Museum of Art|page=133|isbn = 978-0934251006|quote= He employed a number of assistants (some were to become well-known – Henry ''Kreis'', Albert Stewart and Carl Schmitz in particular). [emphasis added]}}</ref> was misspelled as "Krist" in Nole's obituary in ''The New York Times''.<ref name=obit/><ref>{{cite book|title=The New York Times Biographical Service|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1nMoAQAAIAAJ|year=1998|publisher=New York Times & Arno Press|quote= Most of the detail work was done by an assistant, Angelo Colombo, and another assistant, Henry {{sic|Krist}}, sculptured the hair. [A reprint of the obituary]}}</ref>}} ▼
|source = ''Paul Manship'', p. 144.
|width = 60%
|align = center
|bgcolor = beige
|qalign = center}}
▲=== Models ===
▲The model for the full-scale Prometheus sculpture was Leonardo Nole ({{circa|1907}}–1998), an Italian-American lifeguard from [[New Rochelle]] who modeled for college art classes. He spent three months posing for this assignment in the spring of 1933. After World War II, he became a postal worker.<ref name=obit>{{cite web | last=Thomas | first=Robert McG. Jr. |author-link=Robert McG. Thomas Jr. | title=Leonardo Nole, 91, Prometheus Statue's Model | website=The New York Times | date=February 27, 1998 | url=https://www.nytimes.com/1998/02/27/nyregion/leonardo-nole-91-prometheus-statue-s-model.html | access-date=January 11, 2019}}</ref>
▲Manship's assistant Angelo Colombo did most of the detail work when Nole was posing. [[Henry Kreis]], another assistant, sculpted the hair.{{refn|group=N|"Kreis"<ref>{{cite book|title=Paul Manship: Changing Taste in America|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=FeOwAAAAIAAJ|year=1985|publisher=Minnesota Museum of Art|page=133|isbn = 978-
==Gallery==
<gallery mode="packed" widths="150" heights="180">
File:Gilding Rock Cen Prometheus jeh.jpg|[[gilding|Regilding]] in 2011
File:Statue at Rockefeller Centre.jpg|upright=1.2| ''Prometheus'', 1934, [[Rockefeller Center]], New York City
File:Masked Prometheus jeh.jpg|Wearing a mask during the [[COVID-19 pandemic in New York City]]
</gallery>
==See also==
{{Portal|New York City|Visual arts}}▼
* [[1934 in art]]
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==External links==
▲{{Portal|New York City|Visual arts}}
* {{Commons category-inline|Prometheus by Paul Manship|''Prometheus'' by Paul Manship}}
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