Augustus at Nîmes by Sir William Reid Dick, R. A. (1878-1961). 1931. Bronze with a dark brown patination. 228.1 x 343.3 cm. Signed “W. Reid Dick.” on the façade of the Art Gallery for New South Wales, Sydney, Australia. [Photograph © Estate of Sir William Reid Dick, courtesy the Art Gallery of New South Wales, reproduced here for research and study purposes. Click on the image to enlarge it.]
The Trustees of the National Gallery of New South Wales in the last decade of the nineteenth century intended the building's façade to be topped by a series of bas reliefs representing the Arts and Industries in six distinctive historical periods: the Assyrian, Egyptian, Grecian, Roman, Gothic, and Renaissance. Only four were completed: gifted to the gallery by Sir John Sulman, this was the last of the four.
Here Dick depicts another famous ruler of the ancient world, the Emperor Caesar Augustus, directing the execution of his plan for the construction of the city's ramparts, and the Empire's most beautiful marble temple, the Maison Carrée (The Square House) at Nimes ("Colonia Nemauses") in modern-day Provence (in Latin, "Provincia," the Province) in the south of France. The defensive wall, reinforced by fourteen towers, would be six km long. The Maison Carrée , and one of the towers, are among the remains that can still be seen today (Gates 408-09). — Philip V. Allingham
The first of the gallery's four exterior reliefs, by Percival Ball, shows an artist engaged in his work. But here, as in the other two, the emphasis is a little different: a mighty ruler is seen to be fully engaged in an artistic project. Augustus gesticulates as the building work is being discussed, while his retinue stand back and, on the left, those working for him proceed with the plans and the heavy work of construction. Together, these last three panels celebrate the leadership that promotes the flowering of art in a particular age, as well as the skills involved in producing it. — Jacqueline Banerjee
The Earlier Plaques (1900-1908)
- Percival Ball's Phryne before Praxiteles (1900)
- Gilbert Bayes's Assur Natsir Pal, King of Assyria (1906)
- Feodora Gleichen's Queen Hatasu of Egypt (1908)
Bibliography
Augustus at Nimes Art Gallery of New South Wales site.. Web. 15 March 2026. https://www.artgallery.nsw.gov.au/collection/works/3256/
"Bronze reliefs, 1900-31." Art Gallery NSW. Web. 15 March 2026. https://www.artgallery.nsw.gov/au/abut-us/history/history-of-the-building-1900-31
Free, Renée. "Late Victorian, Edwardian and French Sculptures." Art Gallery of New South Wales Quarterly (January 1972): 651.
Gates, Charles. Ancient Cities: The Archaeology of Urban Life in the Ancient Near East and Egypt, Greece, and Rome. London: Routledge, 2011.
Created 15 March 2026