Castellania (Valletta) Allegories of Justice and Truth

Allegorical sculpture are sculptures of personifications of abstract ideas as in allegory. Common in the

western world The Western world, also known as the West, primarily refers to the various nations and states in the regions of Europe, North America, and Oceania.

, for example, are statues of

Lady Justice Lady Justice ( la, Iustitia) is an allegorical personification of the moral force in judicial systems. Her attributes are scales, a sword and sometimes a blindfold. She often appears as a pair with Prudentia. Lady Justice originates from the ...

representing

justice Justice, in its broadest sense, is the principle that people receive that which they deserve, with the interpretation of what then constitutes "deserving" being impacted upon by numerous fields, with many differing viewpoints and perspective ...

, traditionally holding scales and a sword, and the statues of Prudence, representing Truth by holding a mirror and squeezing a serpent. This approach of using the human form and its posture, gesture, clothing and props to wordlessly convey social values and

theme Theme or themes may refer to: * Theme (arts), the unifying subject or idea of the type of visual work * Theme (Byzantine district), an administrative district in the Byzantine Empire governed by a Strategos * Theme (computing), a custom graphical ...

s. It may be seen in

funerary art Funerary art is any work of art forming, or placed in, a repository for the remains of the dead. The term encompasses a wide variety of forms, including cenotaphs ("empty tombs"), tomb-like monuments which do not contain human remains, and comm ...

as early as 1580. They were used on

Renaissance The Renaissance ( , ) , from , with the same meanings. is a period in European history The history of Europe is traditionally divided into four time periods: prehistoric Europe (prior to about 800 BC), classical antiquity (800 BC to AD ...

monuments when

patron saint A patron saint, patroness saint, patron hallow or heavenly protector is a saint who in Catholicism, Anglicanism, or Eastern Orthodoxy is regarded as the heavenly advocate of a nation, place, craft, activity, class, clan, family, or perso ...

s became unacceptable. Particularly popular were the

four cardinal virtues The cardinal virtues are four virtues of mind and character in both classical philosophy and Christian theology. They are prudence, justice, fortitude, and temperance. They form a virtue theory of ethics. The term ''cardinal'' comes from the La ...

and the three Christian virtues, but others such as fame,

victory The term victory (from Latin ''victoria'') originally applied to warfare, and denotes success achieved in personal combat, after military operations in general or, by extension, in any competition. Success in a military campaign constitutes ...

, hope and

time Time is the continued sequence of existence and events that occurs in an apparently irreversible succession from the past, through the present, into the future. It is a component quantity of various measurements used to sequence events, ...

are also represented. The use of allegorical sculpture was fully developed under the

École des Beaux-Arts École des Beaux-Arts (; ) refers to a number of influential art schools in France. The term is associated with the Beaux-Arts style in architecture and city planning that thrived in France and other countries during the late nineteenth centur ...

. It is sometimes associated with Victorian art, and is commonly found in works dating from around 1900.

Notable allegorical sculptures

*The Four cardinal virtues, by Maximilian Colt, on the

monument A monument is a type of structure that was explicitly created to commemorate a person or event, or which has become relevant to a social group as a part of their remembrance of historic times or cultural heritage, due to its artistic, hist ...

to Robert Cecil, 1st Earl of Salisbury in

Bishop's Hatfield Old Hatfield, sometimes called Bishops Hatfield, is a historic village in Hertfordshire, England. It is in the town of Hatfield. It grew up on the Great North Road, one day's journey from London by horse or coach and once had many coaching inn ...

Church Church may refer to: Religion * Church (building), a building for Christian religious activities * Church (congregation), a local congregation of a Christian denomination * Church service, a formalized period of Christian communal worship * C ...

in the English county of Hertfordshire, before 1641. * Pinto's Allegories of Justice and Truth by architect

Giuseppe Bonici Giuseppe Bonici (1707–1779) was a Maltese architect and military engineer. He held the post of ''Capomastro delle Opere della Religione'' and was the principal architect of the Order of St. John from 1761 until his death. He designed several ...

and mason Giovanni Puglisi, 1758. *The figures of the four continents and four arts and sciences surrounding the

Albert Memorial The Albert Memorial, directly north of the Royal Albert Hall in Kensington Gardens, London, was commissioned by Queen Victoria in memory of her beloved husband Prince Albert, who died in 1861. Designed by Sir George Gilbert Scott in the Gothic R ...

in Kensington Gardens, 1872. *The Statue of Liberty, 1886. *Figures of ''War'' and ''Peace'' located at the Millennium Monument at Heroes' Square

Hősök tere Hősök tere (), lit. Heroes' Square, is one of the major squares in Budapest, Hungary, noted for its iconic Millennium Monument with statues featuring the Seven chieftains of the Magyars and other important Hungarian national leaders, as well a ...

, Budapest, Hungary, ca. 1900 *In

Pan-American Exposition The Pan-American Exposition was a World's Fair held in Buffalo, New York, United States, from May 1 through November 2, 1901. The fair occupied of land on the western edge of what is now Delaware Park, extending from Delaware Avenue to Elmwood A ...

of 1901 in

Buffalo, New York Buffalo is the second-largest city in the U.S. state of New York (behind only New York City) and the seat of Erie County. It is at the eastern end of Lake Erie, at the head of the Niagara River, and is across the Canadian border from Sou ...

had an extensive scheme of allegorical sculpture programmed by

Karl Bitter Karl Theodore Francis Bitter (December 6, 1867 – April 9, 1915) was an Austrian-born American sculptor best known for his architectural sculpture, memorials and residential work. Life and career The son of Carl and Henrietta Bitter, he was ...

. *Statue of Justice on the Old Bailey in

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

ca. 1902 *Four statues, ''Industry, Science, Agriculture'', and ''Literature'', by

J. Massey Rhind John Massey Rhind (9 July 1860 – 1 January 1936) was a Scottish-American sculptor. Among Rhind's better known works is the marble statue of Dr. Crawford W. Long located in the National Statuary Hall Collection in Washington D.C. (1926). E ...

at the

Birch Bayh Federal Building and United States Courthouse The Birch Bayh Federal Building and U.S. Courthouse, formerly known as the U.S. Courthouse and Post Office and as the Federal Building, is a courthouse of the United States District Court for the Southern District of Indiana, located in Indianapol ...

Indianapolis, Indiana Indianapolis (), colloquially known as Indy, is the state capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Indiana and the seat of Marion County. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the consolidated population of Indianapolis and Mari ...

, 1905. *The allegorical group on top of Grand Central Terminal in

Manhattan Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state ...

, created by the French sculptor Jules-Felix Coutan in 1912, represents the

Roman gods The Roman deities most widely known today are those the Romans identified with Greek counterparts (see ''interpretatio graeca''), integrating Greek myths, iconography, and sometimes religious practices into Roman culture, including Latin lite ...

Hercules Hercules (, ) is the Roman equivalent of the Greek divine hero Heracles, son of Jupiter and the mortal Alcmena. In classical mythology, Hercules is famous for his strength and for his numerous far-ranging adventures. The Romans adapted the ...

(physical energy), Mercury (commerceLederer, Joseph, photographs by Arley Bondarin, ‘’All Around Town: A Walking Guide to Outdoor Sculpture in New York City’’, Charles Scribner’s Sons, New York, 1975 p. 86) and

Minerva Minerva (; ett, Menrva) is the Roman goddess of wisdom, justice, law, victory, and the sponsor of arts, trade, and strategy. Minerva is not a patron of violence such as Mars, but of strategic war. From the second century BC onward, the Rom ...

(wisdom), and collectively represents 'Transportation'.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Allegorical Sculpture Types of sculpture History of sculpture Visual arts genres Allegory Personifications