Statue of Liberty of War; since 1933 it has been maintained by the National Park Service. Public access to the balcony around the torch has been barred for safety since 1916. According to the National Park Service, the idea for the Statue of Liberty was first proposed by Édouard René de Laboulaye, president of the French Anti-Slavery Society and a prominent and important political thinker of his time. The project is traced to a mid-1865 conversation between de Laboulaye, a staunch abolitionist, and Frédéric Bartholdi, a sculptor. In after-dinner conversation at his home near Versailles, Laboulaye, an ardent supporter of the Union in
Charlotte Dubray of this period remained in the family and have been scattered and often forgotten. In the 1890s Charlotte began to experiment with ceramics with the help of partners such as (1857–1940) and (1848–1926). A high relief of "Cérès" was exhibited at the Objets d’Art section of the Salon of the Société Nationale des Beaux-Arts in 1892. She made an imposing statue of Saint Francis that won a silver medal at the Exposition Universelle de 1900. An article on the Besnard couple by Frantz Jourdain appeared in "La Vie heureuse" in 1904, with photographs showing this statue. Charlotte Besnard designed an