Early Life and Education Frédéric Auguste Bartholdi, born April 2, 1834, in Colmar, Alsace, France, was the son of Jean Charles Bartholdi, a civil servant who instilled in his son a love for learning and observation. From a young age, Frédéric demonstrated an exceptional talent for drawing and sculpture, nurtured by his mother, Augusta Charlotte Beysser, who moved her family to Paris shortly after Jean Charles’s passing. Recognizing hi…