Religious Liberty (1876)

by Sir Moses Jacob Ezekiel (1844 - 1917)

Photo Caption: Photo Alec Rogers © 2014 for the Association for Public Art
  • Title

    Religious Liberty

  • Artist

    Sir Moses Jacob Ezekiel (1844 - 1917)

  • Year

    1876; relocated 1984

  • Location

    Near National Museum of American Jewish History, 55 North 5th Street

  • Medium

    Marble, on granite base

  • Dimensions

    Height 12', width 7'6", depth 5'4", diameter 3' (base height 20', width 7'6", depth 5'4")

Commissioned by B'nai B'rith, The American Chapter of the Jewish Charitable Organizations (Centennial Gift)

Owned by the National Museum of American Jewish History

At A Glance

  • The sculpture represents Republican Freedom

  • Religious Liberty was artist Sir Moses Jacob Ezekiel’s first major commission

  • The artist was awarded the Michel Beer Prix de Rome but deferred the scholarship for a year in order to work on the sculpture

  • Dedicated on Thanksgiving Day, November 30, 1876, in Fairmount Park, the monument was relocated in 1984 to a site near the National Museum of American Jewish History and the Liberty Bell

Religious Liberty sculpture
Photo by Alec Rogers for the Association for Public Art

The complex iconography of Religious Liberty, whose cap is adorned with 13 gold stars, was described by the artist in the Roman newspaper Il Diritto: “[Religious Liberty] represents Republican Freedom, in the figure of a woman eight feet high holding in her left hand the laws of equality and humanity, and symbols of victory; in her right, the genius of Faith raising the burning torch of religion. . . . The crown of laurel, the instrument of the American Constitution, the colossal eagle crushing the serpent (the symbol of tyranny) typify the glory and the power of the country of Washington.”

“Religious Liberty” in Fairmount Park, circa 1925. Photo: Temple University’s Special Collections Research Center.

Ezekiel was born and raised in Richmond, Virginia. He moved to Berlin in 1869 to study at the Royal Art Academy and in 1873 was awarded the Michel Beer Prix de Rome but deferred the scholarship for a year in order to work on Religious Liberty, his first major commission, sponsored by the American chapter of the Jewish charitable organization B’nai B’rith. His concern for perfecting the piece, as well as his insistence on exhibiting it first in Rome, where he had set up studios, prevented Religious Liberty from arriving in Philadelphia in time for the Centennial. It was dedicated on Thanksgiving Day, November 30, 1876, in Fairmount Park. The monument was relocated by the B’nai B’rith in 1984 to a site near the National Museum of American Jewish History and the Liberty Bell.

Adapted from Public Art in Philadelphia by Penny Balkin Bach (Temple University Press, Philadelphia, 1992).

RESOURCES

This artwork is part of the Around Old City tour

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