La Maison Francaise - New York City, NY
Posted by: Metro2
N 40° 45.492 W 073° 58.643
18T E 586317 N 4512418
This doorway is located at 610 Fifth Avenue in New York City's Rockefeller Center.
Waymark Code: WMCG9R
Location: New York, United States
Date Posted: 09/04/2011
Views: 12
This building is known as La Maison Francaise and is now used for commerical purposes. It's doorway has a magnificent 1934 relief gold-leaf relief sculpture described by the Smithsonian Inventory (
visit link) thusly:
"The lower half of the panel consists of three female figures, representing Poetry, Beauty, and Elegance. On the upper half of the panel are two female figures, Paris at the proper right, holding a model of Notre Dame, and New York on the proper left."
The Inventory also adds this remark about the ribbon flowing around the Paris figure:
"Fluctuat nec mergitur" is the motto of Paris and it means "It is tossed by the waves but does not sink."
The artist, Alfred Janniot (1889 - 1969) was a French sculptor. Wikipedia (
visit link) has a brief article about him which refers to this relief as "Paris and New York Joining Hands Above Figures of Poetry, Beauty and Elegance".