Americas1

“The Americas,” Daniel Chester French (1903-7) in front of the Alexander Hamilton Customs House in New York. The female personification of the Americas wears her hair pulled back and is fully clothed with a draped robe gathered at each shoulder. The throne she sits upon has Mayan glyphs. Her body is active, moving forward. She holds a lit torch in her right hand. Across her knee are stalks of corn tied together, representing plenty, unity, and strength. Her right foot rests on a sculpture of Quetzalcoatl, a god of the Aztecs. The man kneeling to her left is thought to represent labor, as he moves the winged wheel representing progress (also Mercury, the Roman god of commerce and travel). Behind her stands a crouching Native American wearing a war bonnet worn by Northern Plains nations. To her lower right is an eagle.

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