I happened upon this giant, broken sculpture and discovered its sad story.

The figure is a personification of Night, made in 1910 by an artist named Adolph Weinman and once paired with a matching figure of Day. Night and Day stood beside a huge clock above the entrance to the grand old Penn Station in New York City. (There were four such pairs high above each entrance to the station.)

That building was demolished in 1963, and the allegorical figures ended up in a landfill in the Meadowlands, along with the rubbled ruins of that fine structure.

But this piece was rescued and now stands outside the Brooklyn Museum. The marvelous details include two opium poppies in the hand of Night.