AllegoryofJustice-OldSupremeCourtBuilding-Singapore-20071013

Cavaliere The Italian honours system is a means to reward achievements or service to the Italian Republic, formerly the Kingdom of Italy, including the Italian Social Republic. Orders of chivalry Italian Republic There are five orders of knightho ...

Rodolfo Nolli (1888–1963) was an Italian

sculptor Sculpture is the branch of the visual arts that operates in three dimensions. Sculpture is the three-dimensional art work which is physically presented in the dimensions of height, width and depth. It is one of the plastic arts. Durable sc ...

and stonework contractor from

Lombardy The Lombardy Region (; ) is an administrative regions of Italy, region of Italy that covers ; it is located in northern Italy and has a population of about 10 million people, constituting more than one-sixth of Italy's population. Lombardy is ...

, who worked mainly in Southeast Asia during the first half of the 20th century.

History

Born in 1888

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

, he was the nephew of the sculptor Vittorio Novi from Lanzo d'Intelvi, a village close to

Lake Lugano Lake Lugano ( or , from ; ) is a glacial lake which is situated on the border between southern Switzerland and northern Italy. The lake, named after the city of Lugano, is situated between Lake Como and Lago Maggiore. It was cited for the first t ...

in northern Italy,

province of Como The province of Como (; Comasco dialect, Comasco: ) is a Provinces of Italy, province in the Lombardy region of Italy. It borders the Switzerland, Swiss cantons of Ticino and Grisons, Grigioni to the north, the Italian provinces of Province of ...

. Around 1914, Novi created the marble decoration for the new Mahaiudthit Bridge in

Bangkok Bangkok, officially known in Thai language, Thai as Krung Thep Maha Nakhon and colloquially as Krung Thep, is the capital and most populous city of Thailand. The city occupies in the Chao Phraya River delta in central Thailand and has an estim ...

and also did marble works for the Ananta Samakhom Throne Hall. Here Nolli became his assistant. He would be awarded with the Order of the Crown of Italy - a form of knighthood that carried with it the title Cavaliere for his efforts in Siam, whilst based in Singapore in 1925. In

Singapore Singapore, officially the Republic of Singapore, is an island country and city-state in Southeast Asia. The country's territory comprises one main island, 63 satellite islands and islets, and one outlying islet. It is about one degree ...

Nolli later designed the marble decorations of the College of Medicine Building, Singapore (completed 1926) and of the Old Supreme Court Building (completed 1939). Nolli had also designed the cast iron lamps and lion reliefs of the Elgin Bridge spanning the

Singapore river The Singapore River is a river that flows parallel to Alexandra Road and feeds into the Marina Reservoir in the southern part of Singapore. The immediate upper drainage basin, watershed of the Singapore River is known as the Singapore River Plann ...

(completed 1929). In 1950 to 1952 he created two iconic crests for Gan Eng Seng School at Anson Road, which were lost when the school moved to Raeburn Park in 1986. He had formerly crafted the Royal Coat of Arms and a pair of flambeau pieces for the main entrance of the Fullerton Building built in 192
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Among his last works in Singapore was a pair of lions for the Bank of China Building, Singapore (1954). Probably his last commission was the stonework for the huge Omar Ali Saifuddien Mosque in Brunei (completed 1958) which inspired the novel Devil of a State by

Anthony Burgess John Anthony Burgess Wilson, (; 25 February 1917 – 22 November 1993) who published under the name Anthony Burgess, was an English writer and composer. Although Burgess was primarily a comic writer, his Utopian and dystopian fiction, dy ...

. He died in 1963 in Italy at the age of 75.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Nolli, Rudolpho 1963 deaths 1888 births 20th-century Italian sculptors 20th-century Italian male artists Italian male sculptors