Next, was the question of composition. I decided to have three panels, the one in the center the tallest, so that it would not be obscured by the judge, and that the subject should have to do with His Honor and not the prisoner before the bar. Consequently, I put Justice in the middle, and what a fair-minded judge should be thinking of on the two sides. Artists have many limitations put upon them and are not always the free creatures often imagined. In this case, my classifications were as clear as any botanist’s. As to family, she was a Justice of America and carried the flag. In the Middle Ages she was always represented as being blind, but in a glorious democracy she should be clear-eyed. As to genus, she was of the state of New York and therefore should bear its coat of arms; as to species, she was of the city of New York and should bear its emblem. In one hand, she carried the scales for weighing the facts offered, and, as either innocence or guilt must predominate or there is no decision, the pans were uneven. In the other hand she carried the crystal ball, emblem of truth, surmounted by a cross, for she was a Christian Justice. In order to complete the scheme and carry out the composition, I placed two little boys to the left and right below and looking up at her; one was offering her pigeons for innocence, and the other the sword, if she needed it, for condemnation. Behind her was a bronze door. The Temple of Janus opened its doors when war was declared—also the feeling of a closed door suggests that unfortunate companion of Justice—Punishment.
The left panel was my idea of the mental qualities that a judge should consider. They are called to-day—Liberty, Equality, and Fraternity, but I did not so name them. I meant to suggest two people thinking of themselves and one thinking of the others. The first was Liberty, who had broken his chains—the physical; the third was the Scientist who was absorbed in facts only—the mental; and the second, between the two, was Brotherly Love, who was bringing them together. The judge should think to what class a man on trial belonged. A free, thoughtless soul should not be condemned for not remembering facts, a scientist for lack of imagination, or the middle figure for forgetting himself.
On the right I put the Three Fates because the judge also was born and must die. Michael Angelo (if he made the panel—there is a question as to the artist) has painted them as old women; Hesiod has stated that they were of different ages. I figured them as Birth, Life, and Death. In the laughing young woman’s lap I put a child playing with the thread of human life which issues from his navel; next a grave, middle-aged woman who measures the thread; and third an old hag who cuts the cord—Clotho, Lachesis, and Atropos.
The color scheme of the whole room was left to me and I did the best I could with it, also outlining the panels with gold bands. Alas! as years went on, some politician, instead of leaving time to mellow it to a beautiful tone, has seen fit to retint the walls and—worse and worse—he has large plates with labels to each picture. You may as well write “horse” under a drawing of the animal as to put “Justice” under my panel. If a decoration is not intelligible to a Chinaman, there is no reason for putting it up.
The Municipal Art Committee had a grand unveiling of the work, with Joseph Choate to make the address of presentation and the acceptance for the city by the District Attorney. Mr. Choate arrived early and got quite a few data from me. It may have been something about my manner, but I think it was his own disposition—which encouraged, became malignant, like the clown that slaps the face of the little boy who cries when his red apple is stolen from him; he spied me in the farthest corner, where I had retired to be out of view. Then, in his oiliest and most oratorical manner, he declaimed:
“Greece had her Apelles, we have our Simmons; Rome had her Michael Angelo, we have our Simmons; etc.”
The crowd applauded, but he knew that I would get the sting; it was as if he were speaking to me alone and I never forgave him.
“THE THREE FATES”
Right panel by Edward Simmons, Criminal Courts Building, New York
Copyright by Edward Simmons; from a Copley Print, Copyright by Curtis & Cameron, Publishers, Boston