Golden Diana Between the Courts

Between D.C. District Court building and the Court of Appeals is a small park with a gleaming statue that beckoned me this hazy August morning. Of course, I had to run over and photograph it with the miracle of my cell phone camera. It was a gold painted (?) statue of a nude female figure standing with her dog contemplating a round pool in front of the District Court of Appeals building. I imagine that at one time there was a fountain from the base. But today the water was clear and still and the figure gleamed brightly against the gray buildings. I haven't been able to find the sculptor but it seems to be from that era of artwork installed in the city and that is an echo of the ancient pagan civilizations.  I recognized the figure instantly, both as the Roman's Diana of the Hunt and the Greek's Artemis and then remembered that both of them had once also personified justice and wisdom until reduced to lesser roles by the patriarchs. But for those who today see only figures of naked women as pornographic, this sculpture should be a reminder that Wisdom is present today in many forms.

Wisdom in Congress?

While on my way to a meeting in a Senate office, I happened across a collection of representational sculptures in one of the underground connecting passageways. These larger than life busty ladies and lusty lads had labels such as Wisdom and Knowledge and brandished spears and tools to emphasize the point to us passersby! I quickly snapped these fabulous figurines dressed in first century Greek garb with my very 21st century cheapo cell phone that allows me to miraculously send these images instantaneously to my computer for later retrieval when I want to blog about something.  What would those personages from that far-off time think of our everyday gadgets? Were these ladies about to jab me for daring to photograph them so glibly as I passed by their grand gestures on the importance of rational thought?   Alas, I'm sure they'd get pretty upset at our modern world for usurping their power and believing  in nothing but ourselves and our own strengths. Or does Wisdom forgive us such trespass?

Supreme Moment

It was 100 degrees Fahrenheit so I took a cab home past the Supreme Court the other day and when the cab paused at the traffic light, I rolled down the window and snapped this shot. In just a few seconds ancient Greece is captured, tourists visiting Washington, D.C., tons of gleaming white marble are displayed, not to mention some incredible representational sculpture, a security guard, an interesting lamp, and "equal justice under law". A closer inspection indicates a wonderful frieze of figures with a crowned Wisdom presiding over several figures, two admiring centurions, one holding a scroll and another holding a sword.She looks off into the far distance, through the netting that holds back the pooping pigeons, ignoring the steps, the tourists, the security guard, the hot pavement and my cab. Well, it's just a building but an awful lot hangs on it.