Central Park In Bronze

Location: 81st Street, mid-Park

Artist/Designer: Milton Hebald

Materials: Bronze, granite

Installation: The Tempest, 1972; Romeo and Juliet, 1978

Funding: Delacorte Foundation

 

The lawn in front of the Delacorte Theater is adorned by two statues: wind-swept Prospero holding his daughter Miranda, no doubt watching the storm he created by magic, and Romeo and Juliet about to kiss. Both of Shakespeare’s plays The Tempest, featuring Prospero and Miranda, and Romeo and Juliet have been performed at the Delacorte Theater during the annual Shakespeare in the Park programming.

 

Both statues are by Milton Hebald, who first received recognition for his art as an eight-year-old when a department store magazine published his drawing of the Manhattan skyline. Hebald began his training in the United States, then went to study and work in Italy. He continued to create art well into his 90s. At one point there were 23 Hebald statues in New York City, including what was then the largest sculpture in the world: the Zodiac, on the façade of the Pan Am terminal at Kennedy Airport. When the terminal was torn down, the Zodiac was placed in a storage hangar at the airport, where it remains.