Was Lady Liberty actually a man?

THE Statue of Liberty could have been based on a man, according to a controversial theory.

French sculptor Frederic Auguste Bartholdi is commonly believed to have used his mother as the inspiration for Lady Liberty. But Elizabeth Mitchell, who has written a book about the 151ft statue, thinks Bartholdi may have used his brother instead.

She said the statue’s lips, nose and eyebrows look too masculine to be those of a woman. During her research, she was struck by the facial features of the statue, which has stood in New York Harbour since 1886.

Miss Mitchell told the New York Post: ‘His mother has a more arched eyebrow, has a thinner nose, has thinner lips, even in her youth. And he was a bust-maker... and was known for his accuracy.

‘Going through photos he had in his files of his brother, I started to look at the face more carefully, and it really did look to be like Liberty.’

Her theory is outlined in a US TV documentary which also says that, contrary to popular belief, the statute was not paid for by the French government as a gift to America. Instead, in a 19th century example of crowdfunding, the French public chipped in to pay for it over 15 years.