Symbolic Statues - myLOC.gov (Library of Congress)

Art

Art

Art is unlike the other figures in being represented as nearly nude. She is crowned with laurel and holds a model of the Greek Parthenon. Beside her is a low tree, in the branches of which are hung a sculptor’s mallet and painter’s palette and brush.

• Art, sculptor:
François M. L. Tonetti-Dozzi (1863–1920), after sketches by Augustus Saint-Gaudens (1848–1907)

• Above the figure of Art:
As one lamp lights another, nor grows less,
So nobleness enkindleth nobleness.
—James Russell Lowell (1819–1891)

Commerce

Commerce

Commerce, crowned with a wreath of peaceful olive leaves, holds in her right hand a model of a Yankee schooner and in her left a miniature locomotive.

• Commerce, sculptor:
John Flanagan (1865–1952)

• Above the figure of Commerce:
We taste the spices of Arabia yet never feel the scorching sun which brings them forth.
—Dudley North (1602–1677)

History

History

History has a book in her hand and, with obvious symbolism, holds up a mirror so that it will reflect things behind her.

• History, sculptor:
Daniel Chester French (1850–1931)

• Above the figure of History:
One God, one law, one element, And one far-off divine event,
To which the whole creation moves.
—Alfred Tennyson (1809–1892)

Law

Law

Law has a scroll in her hand and a fold of her robe is drawn over her head to signify the solemnity of her mission. Beside her sits the stone tablet of the law.

• Law, sculptor:
Paul Wayland Bartlett (1865–1925)

• Above the figure of Law:
Of law there can be no less acknowledged
Than that her voice is the harmony of the world.
—Richard Hooker (1554–1600)

Pendentives

Pendentives

Above each symbolic statue is a pendentive, formed by the curved triangular surfaces between the two arches that support the dome. Each pendentive is decorated with two winged figures, sculpted by Philip Martiny (1858–1927).

The figures, modeled as if half flying and half supported on the curve of the arches, hold between them a large tablet, carrying an inscription in gilt letters.

Philosophy

Philosophy

Philosophy is a grave figure with downcast eyes, carrying a book in her hand.

• Philosophy, sculptor:
Bela Lyon Pratt (1867–1917)

• Above the figure of Philosophy:
The inquiry, knowledge, and belief of truth is the sovereign good of human nature.
— Bacon, Essays, Of Truth

Poetry

Poetry

Poetry is dressed in a garment that falls in severe lines, which suggest the epic and the more serious forms of drama, rather than the lighter aspects of the muse.

• Poetry, sculptor:
John Quincy Adams Ward (1830–1910)

• Above the figure of Poetry:
Hither, as to their fountain, other stars
Repairing, in their golden urns draw lights.
—John Milton (1608–1674), Paradise Lost, vii, 364

Religion

Religion

Religion holds a flower in her hand, symbolizing the lesson of God revealed in nature.

•Religion, sculptor:
Theodore Baur (1835–1894)

• Above the figure of Religion:
What doth the Lord require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God?
—Micah 6:8

Science

Science

Science holds in her left hand a globe of the earth, surmounted by a triangle. In her right hand is a mirror, not, like History’s, but held forward so that all may perceive the image of truth.

• Science, sculptor:
John Donoghue (1853–1903)

• Above the figure of Science:
The heavens declare the glory of God; and the
Firmament sheweth his handiwork.
—Psalms 19:1