Liberty Venus, created by an unknown Russian digital artist. Click for full image.

We all know that the Statue of Liberty was a gift from the French to the Americans. The statue was designed by French sculptor Frédéric Auguste Bartholdi, and the structural engineering came from Gustave Eiffel‘s company. Both men were contemporaries of William Bouguereau.

What would the statue have looked like if Bouguereau was asked to design it? The answer could be the photoshopped image above. It’s based on Bouguereau’s quintessential work Naissance de Venus (Birth of Venus). Bouguereau (who was quite famous in America in his days) created the painting in 1879, seven years before Liberty was built.

The question remains: would the Americans have been delighted or shocked with a 151 ft (46 m) tall statue of a naked woman?

Below is Bouguereau’s original painting. Click to visit the gallery where you will find dozens more remastered versions of the same artwork.