Private collector

Rome, Lazio, Italy

John Vassar House (JVH) has always aimed at large size sculptures.  The Peace Light lighthouse project is the second of a kind and was meant to straddle the waters on which historians think Christopher Columbus dropped anchor on October 12, 1492. 

In this same location, in preparation for the 500th anniversary of Columbus anchorage in San Salvador, John Vassar House had installed his Columbus underwater marker sculpture by placing it permanently on the ocean floor, at the depth of 12 feet (3,60 meters) in crystal clear sea of the San Salvador island of the Bahamas. 

JVH designed the second lighthouse with a similar standing as Scorpio to complement the underwater marker and this included a shrine with a spiral passage for divers to the marker itself. The title of this lighthouse was “Peace Light” and this was planned to be 170 meters (558 feet high). The same year, a two (2) meter high bronze replica model was commissioned, cast and installed in San Salvador Island, Bahamas, to raise funds.

The structural triangle form, originally of Scorpios (with 3 of the 4 classical elements being earth, water and air) is now defined.

The three lighthouse project models being, “Scorpios”, “Peace Light” and “West Coast Tower” were inevitably meant to remain models never to be enlarged. The esthetic beauty of the lighthouses remains a dream for JVH. Each model leaves a story and message in terms of symbolism and form.