Progress of the State is the title of a group of sculptural figures that sits above the south portico, at the main entrance to the state capitol at Saint Paul, in the U.S. state of Minnesota.
The statuary group is in an arrangement known as a quadriga, consisting of a chariot pulled by four horses. Three human figures: two women and a man are included. The sculpture, made by Daniel Chester French and Edward Clark Potter, was completed and raised to the roof of the capitol in 1906. The underlying armature is steel covered in copper. The exterior copper surface is gilded in gold leaf. This quadriga is unique in that it sits atop a building's portico, rather than upon a triumphal arch like most others.
The quadriga arrangement is an ancient style of statue originating more than 2000 years ago in the Roman republic. The four horses represent the classical elements of earth, air, fire, and water. Independently, the women represent industry and agriculture. Collectively, they represent civilization. The male charioteer represents prosperity. He holds aloft a variation of a Roman Legion standard inscribed with the state name .
In 1994 the group was taken down from the capitol roof for a year-long restoration procedure. The quadriga was reinstalled in 1995 and the figures have had several minor in situ reapplications of gold leaf since.
Famous quotes containing the words progress of, progress and/or state:
“As men get on in life, they acquire a love for sincerity, and somewhat less solicitude to be lulled or amused. In the progress of the character, there is an increasing faith in the moral sentiment, and a decreasing faith in propositions.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)
“Every clique is a refuge for incompetence. It fosters corruption and disloyalty, it begets cowardice, and consequently is a burden upon and a drawback to the progress of the country. Its instincts and actions are those of the pack.”
—Madame Chiang Kai-Shek (b. 1898)
“[T]he Congregational minister in a neighboring town definitely stated that ‘the same spirit which drove the herd of swine into the sea drove the Baptists into the water, and that they were hurried along by the devil until the rite was performed.’”
—For the State of Vermont, U.S. public relief program (1935-1943)