Representing Liberty

Liberty was represented by a female figure because in French the noun is feminine (la liberté). This painting from 1793–1794, by Jeanne-Louise Vallain, captures the usual attributes of Liberty: she is soberly seated, wearing a Roman-style toga and holding a pike with a Roman liberty cap on top. Her Roman appearance signals that she represents an abstract quality. The fact that she holds an instrument of battle suggests that women might be active participants. The Statue of Liberty in New York harbor, given by the French to the United States, is a late-nineteenth-century version of the same figure, but without any suggestion of battle. (Allegory of Liberty by Nanine Vallain, 1794 / De Agostini Picture Library / Getty Images.)