The repairs to the skin are working.
The newly galvanized steel patches are riveted, and then welded in place. It's not raining today, enabling the repairs to proceed without interruption. When the statue was made in the late 19th c., the process of galvanizing sheet iron or steel was done by dipping the entire sheet into a molten bath of zinc. As the liquid zinc cools, crystals form, creating the characteristic look of galvanized metal. An electroplating process today forms most galvanized sheet steel. This results in a thinner, and likely more uniform deposit of zinc.
These new patches appear shiny because the zinc has not yet oxidized and darkened.

The red rectangle in this picture is a newly applied priming paint layer over a patch. The statue is scheduled to be re-painted at the end of the May, and it will likely rain again before the re-painting. The red paint is a protective layer to prevent corrosion of the new welds and patches, before the new paint is applied. This will help in getting a good bond of the new paint layers to the metal.

Lisa Bruno
Conservator of Objects