John Milton flanked by Classics and Poetry on the left and History and Ancient History on the right by J. Daymond & Son. 1900. Former City of London School (now occupied” by J.P. Morgan) designed by David and Emanuel. Location: between John Carpenter Street and Unilever House on Victoria Embankment, London EC4 [Click on these images for larger pictures.]
Classics and Poetry/ The female figure symbolizing classics holds a copy of Virgil in her hand, thus indicating his pre-eminance in British education while on books piled on the floor bear the namnes of Ovid and Homer. Poetry, as if requiring no assistance other than inspiration, sits without books and holds what appears to be a shepherd's crook, thus relating the poetic to the pastoral mode.
Sacred History and Ancient History. A winged angel listening as if for divine inspiration symbolizes sacred — that is, biblical history — and a bare-breasted woman, mallet and chisel in hand as she writes Egyptian hieroglyphics, symbolizes ancient history.
Photographs and caption by Robert Freidus. Formatting, perspective correction, and text by George P. Landow. You may use this image without prior permission for any scholarly or educational purpose as long as you (1) credit the photographer and (2) link your document to this URL in a web document or cite the Victorian Web in a print one.]
Bibliography
Ward-Jackson, Philip. Public Sculpture of the City of London. Liverpool: Liverpool University Press, 2003.
Last modified 10 October 2011