This image may be very misunderstood. It is two gentlemen holding hands. It is not as I had first thought a couple. It is in fact two of the first high altitude balloonists who pioneered high altitude flight and the use of oxygen for those flights. According to the US Centennial of Flight Commission, "...in April of 1875" Scientists Sivel and Croce-Spinelli went up with balloonist Gaston Tissandier. "They climbed to 28,820 feet...At that height they lost the use of their limbs so they could not use their meager oxygen supply. They became unconscious. While unconscious, they began an uncontrolled climb..." Tissander was able to wake when the ballon had begun its descent. He was the only person to survive the event.

The artist for this bronze piece may be A. Dumilatre dated 1878