Jules Édouard Roiné (Nantes, October 24, 1857 – April 11, 1916), was an exemplary French-American sculptor and master medal engraver of his era.
Returning to France with an intriguing skill in medal work, Roiné created L'Aurore du XXieme Siècle (Dawn of the Twentieth Century), a distinguished piece that would be honored by the French government.
During the construction of the Bronx Borough Courthouse (1905-1914), the vastly talented Roiné was commissioned to bring to life the statue of Lady Justice that was to be placed at the center of the building.
In his stay, he strengthen his trade as an artist and build many key relationships as an active member of the New York City circle of sculptors.
He invested wisely in various tools, chemicals, and machinery such as electrogalvanic tanks and copper anodes that wielded him new techniques to which he could apply to his creativity, producing electroforms.
He was creating these galvano casts as art objects as early as 1894, making the Marguerite Delpech Plaque, believed to be his first.
It is speculated that while in France he might have studied under Frederic Vernon or Louis Oscar Roty, two premiere medallic artists.
Eventually, on his own, "he secured a world-wide reputation through the exquisite productions in bas-relief designed in 1900 for the Paris Exposition of that year.
"[2] Roiné obtained further widespread notoriety with his work L'Aurore du XXieme Siècle (Dawn of the Twentieth Century), the which was honored by the French government with a gold medal.
The idealism and exquisite rendering of a plaque, "The Dawn of the Twentieth Century," for which the French government gave him a medal, need no comment.
The two formed the prestigious sculpture firm Roiné, Weil and Company in 1908, specializing in bas-reliefs, galvano creations, and preparing models and designing medallic items.
Not only was it the New York City celebration for Hudson-Fulton, a year-long activity honoring Henry Hudson and Robert Fulton, it was also the centennial of the birth of Abraham Lincoln.
Amid the construction of the Bronx Borough Courthouse (1905-1914), several esteemed international sculptors, including former colleague Louis Richards, applied for the commission of a statue of Lady Justice that was to be placed at the center of the building.
The statue resulted in one of his finest works and has become part of a U.S. National Historic Place and New York City Landmark.