The
bronze is 102 in (260 cm) tall and stands on a red
sandstonepedestal 108 in (270 cm) high, with a small stonework boat at the base.[3] The granite around the sculpture originally served as a fountain, but has since been converted to a flower bed.[4] The work contains
runes as well as the English inscription "Leif the Discoverer, Son of Erik, who sailed from Iceland and landed on this continent, AD 1000."[2] It depicts Leif as a young man lifting his left hand in front of his brow.[5] In a letter to the
Boston Art Commission, the sculptor described the posture as a "man of the
old world shading his vision against the glare of the new."[3]
Whitney corresponded with
Frederick Law Olmsted about the placement of the monument and its landscaping.[8] The monument was moved, soon after November 1917, to allow for the realignment of Commonwealth Avenue.[9][10] The site was surveyed as part of the
Smithsonian Institution's "
Save Outdoor Sculpture!" program in 1993.[10] Corrosion was treated in 2007 and an acrylic protective coating was applied.[11]
^Burr, Ty (June 4, 2017). "Do Boston's statues honor the truly honorable?". Boston Globe. p. A10. Leif Eriksson (1887, Anne Whitney, Commonwealth Avenue Mall near Charlesgate)
^
abKjaergaard, Thorkild (2010). "An Unnoticed Example of how the Black Death Altered the Course of History: Why America Was Discovered from Spain and not from Scandinavia". Economic and Biological Interactions in Pre-industrial Europe, from the 13th to the 18th Century. By Istituto internazionale di storia economica F. Datini. Settimana di studio, Simonetta Cavaciocchi.
Florence: Firenze University Press. p. 269.
ISBN9788884535856. The Mirage from the North: Leif Eriksson in America
^
abHeadley, Janet A. (Summer 2003). "Anne Whitney's Leif Eriksson: A Brahmin Response to Christopher Columbus". American Art. 17 (2): 41–59.
doi:
10.1086/444690.
S2CID161558612.
^Goudsward, David (2006). Ancient Stone Sites of New England and the Debate Over Early European Exploration. Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland & Company, Inc. p. 32.
ISBN978-0-7864-2462-7.