The birth and history of the Lady Columbia goes all the way back to Classical Antiquity as a source of inspiration. Her head poised high, her right arm raised in a triumphant gesture and the drapes of her toga, are all symbolic elements we recognise from that period. She was first named 'Columbia' in the secret weekly publication on the debates of the British Parliament in 1738. From what may be the earliest depiction of the Lady Columbia in 1796, she is then transformed into a mythological and allegorical figure in 1872, in a painting called American Progress by John Gast, which served to establish her image as the personification of the nation in the public's collective consciousness. She has, since then, come a long way from her Victorian portrayals to the current image of the Columbia Pictures, till yet another interpretation through the Bioshock Infinite video games of the 21C will remind us just how constant a presence she really is.
Read and watch her fascinating history.
Read and watch her fascinating history.