Progress of the State is the title of a group of sculptural figures that sits above the south portico, at the main entrance to the Minnesota State Capitol in Saint Paul, the state capital of the U.S. state of Minnesota.
The statuary group is in an arrangement known as a quadriga, consisting of a chariot pulled by four horses. Three human figures, two women and a man, are included. The sculpture, made by Daniel Chester French and Edward Clark Potter, was completed and raised to the roof of the capitol in 1906. The underlying armature is steel covered in copper. The exterior copper surface is gilded in gold leaf.
In his design for the Capitol, Gilbert left out the classical triangular pediment favored in the Neoclassical and Beaux-Arts government architecture of the time and instead in its place a installed a quadriga monument at the base of the dome. The quadriga is also unusual in that it sits atop a building's portico, rather than upon a triumphal arch like most others. The inspiration for the Minnesota quadriga was statuary of Christopher Columbus standing in four horse chariot guided by two maidens carrying staffs of victory that Daniel Chester French and Edward Clark Potter had modeled for the Columbian Exposition of 1893 in Chicago. Gilbert saw this quadriga group made plans to have artists adapt it for Minnesota. [1] [2]
French's letter on adapting his earlier quadriga from the World's Columbian Exposition to Minnesota quadriga demonstrates the casualness allegorical meaning could be ascribed to a statue, and vice versa.
- "You will be glad to know that I have begun a model for the central figure (in the chariot) of the Quadriga. The other figures are already designed, as are the horses, since we are to follow the Quadriga which presided over the Columbian Arch at Chicago... The central figure, representing Columbus would, of course, not be appropriate for the State Capitol of Minnesota, so that a new design for this figure is necessary."
- "As the two figures leading the horses are female figures, I think the figure in the chariot should be a male figure," he wrote. "I think it should represent "Minnesota', if you think that a male figure can personify a state." [3]
The quadriga arrangement is an ancient style of statue originating more than 2000 years ago in the Roman Republic. The four horses represent the classical elements of earth, air, fire, and water. Independently, the women represent industry and agriculture. Collectively, they represent civilization. The male charioteer represents prosperity. He holds aloft a variation of a Roman Legion standard inscribed with the state name MINNESOTA.
In 1994 the group was taken down from the capitol roof for a year-long restoration procedure. The quadriga was reinstalled in 1995 and the figures have had several minor in situ reapplications of gold leaf since.
During a comprehensive restoration of the State Capitol building the figure of the charioteer was removed and lowered to the ground in 2014 to allow repairs to corrosion to the top surface of the chariot and was reinstalled in 2015.[4][5][6][7]
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A closeup of the horses -
Removal of charioteer -
Removal of charioteer -
Statue being reinstalled -
Being reinstalled -
Looking West -
Looking East -
The Peristyle, Columbian Arch, and Columbus Quadriga
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References
- ^ Thompson, Neil B. (2005). Minnesota's State Capitol: The Art and Politics of a Public Building. Minnesota Historical Society Press. pp. 75–76. ISBN 0-87351-085-2.
- ^ Roethke, Leigh (2005). Minnesota's Capitol: A Centennial Story. Afton Historical Society Press. pp. 62–63. ISBN 1-890434-67-1.
- ^ O'Sullivan, Thomas (1994). North Star Statehouse: An Armchair Guide to the Minnesota State Capitol. Pogo Press. pp. 58–59. ISBN 1-880654-07-5.
- ^ Salisbury, Bill (September 23, 2014). "State Capitol temporarily loses charioteer of the golden Quadriga". Pioneer Press. Retrieved 2021-01-29.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link) - ^ Cameron, Linda (March 3, 2019). "Quadriga: "The Progress of the State"". MNOpedia. Retrieved 2021-01-29.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link) - ^ Fitzgerald, Kilat (August 14, 2017). "Minnesota state capitol celebrates grand opening after restoration". La Crosse Tribune. Retrieved 2017-09-08.
- ^ West, Tom (August 19, 2017). "Notes from a visit to our restored State Capitol". dairylandpeach.com. Retrieved 2017-09-08.
