The sun never set on the British Empire - what this handsome golden fellow symbolizes. He is an intaglio carving by Lee Laurie, cut into the face of the British Empire Building (which is across the long garden concourse from the French Building which has its own beauties) over the doorways of 620 Fifth Avenue, one of the four main buildings in Rockefeller Center. Mercury is the god of commerce, speed, a messenger and even the patron of thievery. When built in the thirties this building served as the off shore center for British commerce and trade while they were under tremendous siege at home. His appearance of forward movement is a reminder, if we need one, to hurry about our business....
4 comments:
Hello Lucy,
Thank you for your comments on my blogs today. It's a great complement and pleasure having someone from such a distance like my writing (if you can call it that). Looking forward to the site you mentioned you're working on.
This is a great shot of Mercury. Let's get to it then!
kl daily
nice carving...altho the sun set on the british Empire a long time ago...i think few would mourn its passing.
Very pretty art nouveau look to it!
Beautiful. We admired this when we visited. Unfortunately I neglected to take a photograph so I thank you for saving me the trouble! :)
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