NEW YORK, NY (October 27, 2025) — The Prometheus statue at Rockefeller Center, modeled after a New Rochelle resident nearly a century ago, is undergoing a meticulous regilding to gleam for the Christmas tree lighting on December 3, 2025. The 18-foot bronze figure, a symbol of human progress, is being adorned with 23¾-karat gold leaf to captivate skaters and tourists during the holiday season.
As reported by James Barron in The New York Times on October 27, 2025, the statue’s temporary concealment heightens anticipation for its unveiling, ensuring it will dazzle at the Christmas tree lighting and embody the spirit of progress.
NYT: A Glistening Makeover for a Rockefeller Center Icon (10/27/2025)
Behind a giant dropcloth in Rockefeller Center’s lower plaza, art restorers led by principal conservator Marc Roussel are applying 20,000 sheets of ultra-thin gold leaf by hand to the statue’s 400-square-foot surface. The process involves scraping off old gold, applying a yellow-tinted epoxy primer, and placing each leaf with precision. “We’re putting them on the surface by hand, one at a time, perfectly,” Roussel told The New York Times. With gold priced at $4,100 an ounce, the raw materials cost over $60,000, though the total weight of the gold is less than a pound.
Created by sculptor Paul Manship and unveiled in 1934, the statue has been regilded several times over its 91-year history. This restoration ensures Prometheus will shine as a centerpiece of Rockefeller Center’s holiday celebrations. John D. Rockefeller, Jr., insisted on the gilded finish, dissatisfied with the original bronze, to highlight the statue’s dynamic pose depicting the Greek Titan who stole fire for humanity.
The statue’s model was Leonardo Nole, a New Rochelle, NY, resident born in 1906 to Italian immigrants.
TOTS: New Rochelle Man was Model for Prometheus Statute at Rockefeller Center (12/30/2019)
As detailed in a 2019 Talk of the Sound article by Robert Cox, Nole was a 26-year-old lifeguard and athlete recommended to Manship in 1933 by a Sarah Lawrence College sculpture teacher. Paid $1 an hour, Nole posed for three months in a challenging stance—standing on one leg, body bent, arms outstretched. “It was a difficult pose for me to hold, you know, flying through the air with the fire,” Nole recalled in a 1994 written account. He worked with Manship’s assistants, Angelo Colombo and Henry Kiest, and remained proud of his role until his death in 1998.
Prometheus features Zodiac signs with inscribed names, a detail Roussel describes as an Art Deco prelude to the information age. “You don’t usually think about information on a sculpture,” he noted, “but there’s a lot of information on this.” Gilders like Bill Gauthier work section by section, using a grid for a subtle pattern and buffing the gold with lamb’s-wool cloths dipped in ice water. “If it’s a hodgepodge, it’s going to look bad,” Gauthier explained.
Described by the Rockefeller Center website as the “fourth most recognized statue in the country” and the most photographed artwork in New York City, Prometheus bears the inscription: “Prometheus, teacher in every art, brought the fire that hath proved to mortals a means to mighty ends.”
This article was drafted with the aid of Grok, an AI tool by xAI, under the direction and editing of Robert Cox to ensure accuracy and adherence to journalistic standards.
Discover more from Talk of the Sound
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.