Allegory of Justice
Cavaliere Rudolfo Nolli (1888 to 1963) · 1939
High above the columns of the former Supreme Court, in the triangle of the pediment, a group of figures acts out the meaning of the building beneath them. In the centre, larger than the others, stands Justice, with a sword in one hand and scales in the other. To one side a man kneels to receive her protection and a woman offers thanks; on the other side the guilty are led away or cower in fear, and in the corners are figures representing law, order and the fruits of good government, including a farmer and a symbol of plenty. It is a plain moral picture made for a colony, and it was the last big sculptural commission of the British period.
The sculptor was an Italian, Cavaliere Rudolfo Nolli, who had settled in Singapore in the 1920s and became the go-to artist for the decoration of public buildings, from the Fullerton Building to the old Kallang Airport. Look at how he simplified the forms into flat, stylised planes; this is the Art Deco classicism of the 1930s rather than the fussy Victorian style of the older buildings around. The relief is not carved stone but cast in a mixture of cement and crushed granite, a material Nolli specialised in, which is why it has weathered so evenly.
Nolli's studio also produced the columns and the wall cladding of the court in the same material, and the Corinthian capitals were cast rather than carved. The pediment is best seen from across the road in the late afternoon, when the low light picks out the figures, or with binoculars from the steps of the City Hall next door. It is a rare survival: most of the public sculpture of colonial Singapore has been lost, and this is the largest piece still in place.
Did You Know? The figures are not carved stone but cast in a granite and cement mixture that the sculptor perfected himself.
Unlock the Full Guide
Read every room and listen to every work in all museums with premium.