Two Metalbond readers who were recently visiting Chicago sent some pictures of this statue in front of the Tribune Tower:

Here’s what they had to say:

We were walking around Chicago this weekend and walked past the statute of Nathan (“My only regret is that I have but one life to give for my country ” )  Hale that’s outside the Chicago Tribune building on Michigan Avenue. We never really looked closely at it before, but … gee … the guy is hot, if green, and his hands are tied behind his back. And it looks like he has a pretty rocking body under all that bronze 18th Century finery. We thought of your blog and took these pics for you.

Intrigued, I looked this up online, and learned that the statue is a replica of Bela Lyon Pratt’s 1912 statue that stands on the campus of Yale University — pictured below flanked by two hot Yale servicemen on Yale campus in New Haven, Connecticut in November 1917:

Nathan Hale (1755-1776) was a soldier for the Continental Army during the American Revolutionary War. Widely considered America’s first spy, he volunteered for an intelligence-gathering mission but was captured by the British. He is best remembered for his speech before being hanged following the Battle of Long Island, in which he reportedly said, “I only regret that I have but one life to give my country.”

The 6-foot tall sculpture depicts Hale, hands tied behind his back, the moment before his execution.

There are several other replicas of the statue in addition to the one in Chicago. Copies also stand at the Phillips Academy in Andover, Massachusetts; the Nathan Hale Homestead in Coventry; the Connecticut Governor’s Mansion in Hartford; Fort Nathan Hale in New Haven; the Department of Justice in Washington, D.C.; and at the headquarters of the Central Intelligence Agency in Langley, Virginia.

Does anyone else know of other works of public art depicting hot guys in bondage — maybe with less bronze on?