Justitia Majestata

Justice as Her Majesty: A Reflection on Mathias Blumenthal’s Depiction of Justice

“Just as one by using weights and scales can find and know the true importance of all things weighable, so can Justice by means of the principles of God’s Laws and the Law of the Land ... weigh, assess and distinguish right from wrong.”
Matthias Blumenthal,BESKRIVELSE OG KORT EXPLICATION
OVER DET SKILDREDE EMBLEMATISKE STYKKE TIL RAAD-STUEN¹

The Scandinavian painter, Mathias Blumenthal (ca. 1719-63), had his hand, along with many other artists, in painting justice. Yet Blumenthal’s treatment of this common subject is, in at least one way, unique. It is unique in that the artist took pains to write a written commentary on his work, thus easing the task of understanding his symbolism.

Blumenthal's Justitia Majestata

Blumenthal’s treatment of Lady Justice was the outcome of a magisterial commission from the city of Bergen, a port-city which sits on the Western coast of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The port city of Bergen prided itself on being ensconced within seven mountains, de syv fjell, an oblique reference perhaps to the Seven Hills of Rome and the Norwegian city’s model for its hoped-for greatness. Modern day Bergen thrives in southwestern coast of modern-day Norway, still a bustling port. When the painter Blumenthal was commissioned by the magistrate of Bergen in 1762 to paint a depiction of Justice, the city was one of the largest in Scandinavia. In response to the city’s commission, Blumenthal painted Justitia Majestata, Justice in Majesty, and it hung in the City Hall until it was moved to the Museum of Art in Bergen.

Detail: Blumenthal's
Justitia Majestata

As is traditional in the West, Blumenthal personified Justice as a woman, but for all that she is not to be considered weak. She is Justice regnant, enthroned like a queen, confident of her power in the right. She is a dominatrix, ready to punish even severely those who stray from the path of justice and injure their fellow man or introduce disorder. She exists to promote virtue, to punish vice, to protect the innocent, and to right wrongs. And she does so for citizens of Bergen in the name of the Triune God.

Blumenthal's Written Explanation
of his Justitia Majestata

Blumenthal’s treatment of Justice is replete with symbols and allegorical characters. Although these may have been understood more readily in Blumenthal’s time, the untutored modern would find them baffling, if he understood them all. What is unusual in this instance is that Blumenthal left a written explanation of the symbols and allegories he used to expand on his theme of the majesty of justice. Any ambiguity in his visual art is clarified by his written comments; these provide the viewer an unusual glimpse into the mind of the artist, and help us understand his work.

These comments begin with the represented theme. “The theme represented,” Blumenthal begins, is that “God, in his providence, has appointed judges over men.” He does this, Blumenthal continues, “in order that sin or immorality shall not reign.” Blumenthal’s conception of Justice is therefore inextricably linked with virtue and with holiness. He also links Justice and the judges who administer Justice with God and His Providence.

Detail: Blumenthal's
Justitia Majestata

Blumenthal’s God is not the God of Voltaire, the Deist’s God that was then coming into vogue, promoted by the philosophes. Blumenthal’s God was the God of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Jacob, the God who was revealed by Jesus Christ to be three persons in one God. By including an open eye in an inverted equilateral triangle, Blumenthal intended to symbolize the ever present and guiding eye of God, that is, His Providence. He also intended to make it clear, that this Providence was that of the relational God, the Blessed Trinity of the Christian revelation (den Tre-Eenige Guds Forsyn). Notably, it is below this image of God, that human justice, depicted by Justitia Majestata, reigns. Justice’s power is under God, and it is an instrument of God’s Providence. Justice is God’s foresight administered through human hands.

Because she acts in God’s name, Justitia Majestata is regal: she bears comfortably the symbols of her queenship—a bejeweled crown on her head and the raiment befitting a queen.

The crown is a symbol of the Honor of Justice because, though Justice is intrinsically fair and honorable, so it becomes even more wondrous when the jewels of the Fear of God and of Truth shine and radiate from it.

The regal Justice sits on a throne of billowy clouds, protected by a royal canopy held up by four attendant putti. The clouds she sits upon are similar to the clouds in which God’s Providence is revealed, making it clear that she sits in the place of the Divine Providence. She is, as it were, an imago Providentia Dei. In her hands, Queen Justice holds her symbols of power. Her right hand clutches a thin, gold scepter, the symbol of regal power. Her left hand gingerly holds a pair of scales, the classic symbol of justice. With respect to the scales, Blumenthal elaborates in his notes:

Just as one by using weights and scales can find and know the true importance of all things weighable, so can Justice by means of the principles of God’s laws and the Law of the Land (on which Jurisprudence is founded) weigh, assess and distinguish right from wrong.²

On Justice’s breast we see a broach, decorated with the radiant eye, as if it were a tiny sliver of God’s all-seeing Providence. Blumenthal’s Justice is not blind, but strives to be all-seeing; and yet it is very plainly not influenced by bias or partiality. She sees with her human eyes, but also with the eye of God. She intends to be as impartial as God. Justitia Majestata is above any partisanship, and seeks the common good, and the cause of right. In Blumenthal’s words:

The radiant eye, the eye of Justice, represents how this same eye, regardless of a person’s reputation, perceives right and wrong alone, because the eye of Justice, by way of the Fear of God and of Truth, has the Power of True Sight so that it can incontrovertibly distinguish between Virtues and Sins.

Without the strong hand of Justice, Blumenthal explains, Fury (Furia) reigns. Fury represents “Murder (Mord) and Fire (Brand) as well as Envy (Avind), Hate (Had), and Perfidy or Falsehood (Falskhed).” Like the man possessed by the Lake of Genesareth, Fury’s name is Legion:³ Calumny (Calumnia), Slander (Bagvaskelse), Drunkenness and Debauchery (Fyllerie og Horerie), and Theft (Tyverie), Injustice (U-Retfærdighed), and Fraud (Bedragerie).

Detail: Bluementhal's
Justitia Majestata

To the right of Justice’s throne in the foreground is winged Piety or Pietas, depicted as an upright woman, her visage heavenward, one hand chastely on her breast over her heart, and the other hand holds the Bible, God’s revealed Law (Guds Lov-Bog Bibelen). Like the angels, Piety is winged, and like the Apostles who had tongues of Fire at Pentecost, she has a flame of fire of the Paraclete above her head.

The timor Dei or fear of God (Guds Frygt) is, according to Blumenthal’s Lutheranism and its notion of sola scriptura, assured by emphasis on the Holy Scriptures, apparently free of the Church.⁴ “The Bible,” Blumenthal writes, “is the revelation of the word of God and His book of laws (Guds Ord og Guds Love-Bog). The Christian religion can therefore be described as an opportunity for, means to, and foundation for achieving true Fear of God.” Blumenthal continues:

The wings, thereby, depict qualities of God-fearingness (Gudfrygtigheds Qualiteter) because a God-fearing person is inclined towards Heaven and seems to swing himself from earth to Heaven using wings. The Fear of God is a Virtue (Dyd) that points the way to all the other wondrous Virtues (Dyder).

The burning Flame depicts how true Fear of God (Gudsfrygt) worships and praises the Lord with a burning devotion, and just as a burning Flame is kept alive and moving by the air, so true Fear of God receives life, light and movement from the Supreme Being. Consequently, a God-fearing person does nothing that is not just and pleasing to God.

Detail: Blumenthal's
Justitia Majestata

On the left hand of Justice is another of Justice’s companions: Truth. Like Piety, Truth (Sandhed) is a woman. Truth or Veritas is bared, but though naked she is incontestably chaste and unashamed. There is no prurient interest in Truth. She holds an orb—the sun—aloft in her right hand as if it were a host, and in her other a book of the positive laws of the land (Hun Landets Lov-Bog)—human law—and the green palm branch of civil peace.

The interdependent relationship between Piety and Truth, between God’s law and man’s law, is manifest in the compatibility, the complementarity of these two figures. It is as if Blumenthal wanted to depict the thought of Heraclitus that all human laws are fed by the one divine law. For Blumenthal, the law of the land and truth are linked; they are linked because they mimic (or ought to mimic) the relationship between the Truth as reflected in God’s will and God’s law. The positive law of the human authority, “which is the royal word revealed (Landets Lov-Bog, som er det Kongelig aabenbarede Ord),” Blumenthal notes, “is a symbol of Truth—not because it its Truth itself, but because it represents a real Truth founded on God’s will and God’s holy law (paa Guds Villie, og paa Guds hellige Lov).”⁵

Detail: Blumenthal's
Justitia Majestata

Truth is naked because Truth “does not need any kind of ornamentation or raiment; it should not be hidden or entwined in anything that is not intrinsically part of it.” The Sun is a symbol—an allusion to Truth’s existence, and to its effect. This is because “just as nobody who has eyes to see can deny the sun and its shining, so no reasonable person, who is free of all wrong judgment, can deny the obvious and clear Truth.”

Detail: Blumenthal's
Justitia Majestata

Truth is also like the sun in that it “does not merely shine for itself, but chases away all darkness and gloom with its rays.” It must “banish all lies and false doctrine,” Blumenthal explains.

The palm branch held by Truth in her left hand is a palm of victory, and represents Truth’s eventual triumph. It is a fitting symbol. The palm tree is able to take the violence of the winds of falsehood and evil. Truth, like the palm tree, overcomes that which would stifle its growth, and emerges victorious. Like Truth, the palm tree is upright and stretches up to heaven.

Detail: Blumenthal's
Justitia Majestata

On both sides of Justitia are the geniuses (tvende Genius) of Justice; these are meant to show the fruits of justice. The good thrive under the reign of Justice, whereas the evil wither. And so the cherubic-looking sprite indicates the happiness of the people who flourish under Justice. Justice’s genius distributes his goods from a cornucopia, from which horn of plenty may be seen pouring out fruits, corn, flowers, ribbons, crowns, treasure and gold. Under Justice, this is the concomitant—the dessert of this Virtue.

The other genius of Justice is of sorrowful countenance, and bears the sword (Sværd) of Justice, the sword to separate the good and evil in one hand. In his other arm, the genius holds the instruments of the punishment that Justice sometimes demand for the vicious and unjust (og paa Armen bærer Hun adskillige Justiz Instrumenter til Straf for de U-Dydige).

Detail: Blumenthal's
Justitia Majestata

One of the results of human Justice acting under God’s Providence through a neutral judicial system is that each will be rendered his due. In striving to achieve this, human Justice rectifies the imbalance that would occur if Justice is left to the furies of fortune’s whim, or, what would be worse, private revenge. Blumenthal depicts unreasoning revenge as a Fury. The Fury is clearly controlled by Justice’s dominion. Justice steps on the chest of this symbol of unreasoned and private justice, which Blumenthal describes as follows:

Detail: Blumenthal's
Justitia Majestata

Maegaera, also known as Tisiphone, one of the most horrible of Hell’s Furies, holds a dagger in one hand and a burning flame in the other, her head covered in snakes. She symbolizes Murder, Fire, Envy, Hate, and Perfidy. The dagger is an instrument of Murder, in the same way, the burning flame is a symbol of Arson, even more when wielded by a Fury.⁶

All about the Fury are the evil fruits of vengeance. According to Blumenthal, the snakes that are the Fury’s hair depict Hate, Envy, and Perfidy.

Detail: Blumenthal's
Justitia Majestata

The cackling magpie (Pica (Skaden eller Sioren)) which is by the Fury, represents the evils that come with chattering: Calumny, Falsehood, and Slander (Calumnia, Løgn og Sladder). As Blumenthal explains:

[A]s the magpie belongs to the birds of prey, so liars and slanderers belong to the thieves of honor who rob and steal an honest man’s good name and reputation. Just as the magpie never comes to rest anywhere but makes itself known by its squawking voice, so a false, cunning, and deceitful person makes himself known, leaving in his wake a reputation resembling his characteristics and causing must unhappiness, etc.

Detail: Blumenthal's
Justitia Majestata

By the Fury Blumenthal also paints a pudgy Satyr (Satyren)—half goat, half man—taking swigs from a clay jug (Krukke), and holding a sparrow (Spurve) in his left hand. The Satyr represents Drunkenness and Debauchery (Drukkenskaben og U-Tugtighed), “for the Billy goat and even more so the sparrow are perfect symbols of Lechery and Depravity (Geilhed og U-Tugt).” As Blumenthal the moralist correctly noted, “Drunkenness and Debauchery (Fyllerie og Horerie) often go hand in hand.” Drunkenness is the result of overindulgence, and “manifests itself when a drunkard is not satisfied with a little but wants a lot, and prefers a large filled jug (Krukke) to a small filled glass.”

The creeping rat (Rotten) is a symbol of a Thief, and as such, Theft (Tyv og Tyverie).

Detail: Blumenthal's
Justitia Majestata

Just as the rat does not employ just violence and power in gnawing and digging its way into cellars and larders, etc., where it consumes, destroys, and carries away anything it can, so the Thief does not just break through locks and bars to carry off what he does not own, but also destroys and consumes what he has stolen.

Detail: Blumenthal's
Justitia Majestata

Finally, injustice or fraud is depicted by Blumenthal as a winged harpy (Harpye), which has a young, almost infantile woman’s face, but the ears of a bear, the body of a dragon, and the talons of an eagle. She is depicted trampling a set of scales. In one talon she clutches a primrose, whereas her other talon grasps money. What do these symbols represent? “An unjust and fraudulent person,” Blumenthal explains, “oppresses and despises everything that is just and reasonable.” He continues:

An unjust and fraudulent person uses flattery and friendliness and, employing a flattering expression, does not merely put on a good face when acting in an evil manner, but even steals from his neighbor under cover of a beautiful mask. Like the harpy, such people merely scrape and steal form themselves where it is to their advantage, and that which they first have in their grasp can no more be recovered than that which is the grasp of a dragon’s or eagle’s claws. The wild rose and its branch are no less a symbol of Fraud, for the rose has a beautiful appearance and flatters the eye, but, should you grip it carelessly, you will be basely stung by its thorns.

Blumenthal ends his synopsis with a paean of praise for Majestic Justice, a tribute with which it would be fitting to end this reflection:

Justitia Majestata rewards good and punishes evil people (belønner de geode og bestraffer de onde), each according to his deserts (Fortieniste). A Father of the people (Lands-Fader) and supreme Judge (Dommer) (who is God-fearing and truthful) has the most loving intentions and is most generous and happy when he is rewarding Virtues. When punishing Sins on the other hand, he is most dismal. So it is also for Justitia Majestata, like the Centrum Circuli,⁷ the origin of and unbreakable fundament for all the other subordinate justices and courts, that God, be He merciful, shall maintain in their right form!⁸

Endnotes

¹ Blumenthal’s Justitia Majestata and his description of the work in its original language and English translation may be found at http://www.euarchives.org. Obviously, I am entirely indebted to that website for the contents of this paper. All quotes and pictures are taken from the site. On occasion, however, I have modified the English translation. ⇑

² Weye-Skaalen, med samme betegnes i Almindelighed Justitien; ligesom man formedelst Vægt og Veye-Skaal skal finde og erfare alle veyelige Tings sande Vigtighed, ligesaa kan og Justitia, formedelst principier af Guds og Landets Love (hvorpaa Juris prudentia har sin Grund) Veye og overveye samt fraveye Rett fra Urætt. ⇑

³ See Mark 5:10 ⇑

⁴ Norway rejected its traditional Roman Catholicism and became Protestant by Royal Decree in 1537 issued by King Christian III of Denmark and Norway, whereupon, aided by a mercenary army of Lutherans, he deposed and imprisoned the Catholic bishops, and spoliated the Church of its properties. ⇑

⁵ The virtual equation of the positive law of the state and the law revealed in the Bible is typically Protestant. The Protestant reformers, wed to the idea of the total depravity of man and the notion of sola scriptura, rejected the role of practical reason as a substantive source of the natural moral law. The natural moral law, like the laws of the civil polity, could only be reliably informed by Holy Scripture. See generally Harold J. Berman, Faith and Order: The Reconciliation of Law and Religion (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2000), 141-85. ⇑

⁶ Blumenthal seems confused here. According to Greek mythology, the three Erinyes or (by euphemism intended to placate them) Eumenides (known as “Furiae” or Furies by the Latins) were goddesses of revenge. These three sisters were formed by the drops of Uranus’s blood after he was castrated by Chronus. Their number finally settled to three, and were named Tisiphone (“avenging murder”), Alecto (“unceasing”), and Megaera (or Maegaera) (“grudging”). The Erinyes punished those who managed to elude the grasp of human justice. They may be symbols of an unreasoning justice. ⇑

⁷ Latin for "center of a circle." ⇑

⁸ Justitia Majestata, ligesom Centrum Circuli, en Oprindelse og U-ryggelig Fundament til alle andre Subalterne Justicier og Retter.Som Gud, udi dens rette Form Naadelig Opholde! ⇑