7. Glory of Commerce
The sculpture Glory of Commerce, alternatively named Transportation or Progress with Mental and Physical Force, adorns the front of Grand Central Station. Designed by French sculptor Jules-Félix Coutan, the work is an astonishing 48 feet tall and 66 feet wide and portrays the terminal as a groundbreaking step towards technological innovation in the city. At the center stands Mercury, representing travel and commerce, standing in a contrapposto pose in front of an eagle. To Mercury’s left is Vulcan holding a hammer (though he is often mistaken as Hercules) sitting among an anchor, beehive, and grapes. To Mercury’s left is Minerva, the goddess of wisdom, looking at a roll of parchment while sitting among a globe and a compass.
Coutan supposedly never stepped foot in the United States, creating the model in Paris and thereafter shipping it to the United States. The sculpture also sits above a 13-foot-wide Tiffany clock, the world’s largest example of Tiffany glass. The sculpture also represents the Vanderbilt family, as William K. Vanderbilt was a long-time owner of the New York Central Railroad.