MAY 4, 2015 LAST UPDATED: MONDAY, MAY 4, 2015, 1:21 AM
BY CHRIS HARRIS
STAFF WRITER |
THE RECORD
RIDGEWOOD — Restoration work will soon begin on an 80-year-old Gaetano Federici sculpture that was discovered last year in the woods behind the village’s water treatment plant.
It will take about three weeks for a restorer to clean and refurbish the renowned Paterson artist’s cast stone statue, said Ridgewood Councilwoman Susan Knudsen.
“It is a rather stately piece that everyone can appreciate,” Knudsen said.
The sculpture depicts an earlier version of New Jersey’s state seal. The 1927 piece features two female figures — Liberty and Ceres — with three plows, representing agriculture’s importance to the state. As with the state seal, the head of a horse — New Jersey’s official animal — tops the statue.
Until last week, the statue had remained in the same spot it occupied for the four decades before it was unearthed: atop two old tires, covered with a tarp.
But last Friday, Ridgewood workers gingerly moved the sculpture onto a wooden pallet. A forklift was then brought in to transport it to a safer location, Knudsen said.
The statue now sits on a table specifically constructed for it, awaiting fine-art restorer and Ridgewood resident Ornella Muth’s magic touch, Knudsen said.
https://www.northjersey.com/news/education/restoration-to-begin-on-long-lost-sculpture-1.1324849
