Wednesday 3 August 2011

Old War Office, Whitehall SW1

Truth, proverbially the first casualty of war, sits on the War House with her mirror in one hand and a closed, unalterable book in the other, together with the fragrant flowers that are the fruits of truth.
Justice does not hold her usual attributes of sword and scales and is (correctly) not blindfold: she holds the book of judgement with a tree emblazoned on the cover. Note Alfred Drury's signature.

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2 comments:

  1. The Duke of Waltham11 August 2011 at 21:21

    The original version of Justice did hold a sword, which would be the missing bronze trinket in the final version (compared to the other statues); its omission puzzles me. I am also curious about the nature of the tree on the book's cover. Could it refer to this?

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  2. Chris Partridge11 August 2011 at 21:39

    Very interesting...I failed to spot that Justice originally had her sword. Why did Drury remove it in the executed design?
    It is entirely possible that the tree is a gallows tree (I had never heard of a 'dule' tree - what a great word). The imagery is still puzzling, though.

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