It is easy to pass these ladies by as just another trio of artsy Edwardian allegorical figures, but they are exceptionally good. Two, Art and Commerce, are by Louis Frederick Roslyn (formerly Louis Fitz Roselieb, but as the date was 1916 one can understand his motives). The other, Science, is by Thomas Rudge.
Art hold a palette in one hand and a maquette of an armless classical figure in the other. Science stands in front of a globe standing rather precariously on a pile of books, holding a pair of dividers. In her other hand she holds a lamp (I think - it looks a bit like a dinosaur egg hatching a serpent).But my favourite is Commerce with her armful of flowers. Her face is not the standard droopy post-pre-Raphaelite face of so much Edwardian sculpture but a real person, full of character.
The building was designed by Palgrave and Co.
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