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
this is a good thing. thank god it did not damage .why was it moved in the first place.
It came from the police and fire complex on Hudson St when they tore it down 1:25
OMG why was it moved … thank GOD its safe… like its a priceless Michelangelo.
Its a minor local public works sculpture with little to no intrinsic value – other than local history.
Nice they found it.
Nice that it will be displayed again.
Even nicer they are not spending a fortune to restore it
that’s about it.
https://lambertcastle.org/federici.html
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xX9yywpnRZw
https://www.pccc.edu/home/cultural-affairs/art-galleries/permanent-collections/the-federici-studio-collection
https://www.patersonhistory.com/people/federici2.html
btw its seems to most observers that someone was looking to take it home
Who ?