Justitia

This small painting by Carl Spitzweg, dated 1857, shows a statue of Justice with blindfold, scales and sword, standing on a pedestal that also forms the corner post of an outdoor staircase railing. Behind it, a building fills much of the background, with cast shadows dividing its wall into areas of light and dimness. At the right edge, a uniformed man in a cocked hat is only partly visible, apparently standing in the shade as if keeping watch, probably a soldier. Spitzweg, best known for gentle, everyday scenes, turns the allegory into satire here: the stone looks worn and cracked, the scales are broken with one pan missing, the blindfold has slipped, and the soldier's gaze feels uneasy. The painting also carries a troubled history. It belonged to the Jewish collector Leo Bendel, who was forced to sell his collection after the Nazis came to power, and it was returned to his heirs in 2007 after decades in German official collections. Today the work stands both as an ironic commentary by its author and as a reminder of the consequences of persecution.

Painter

Carl Spitzweg

Date

1857

Medium

oil paint, canvas

Dimensions

48 × 27 cm

Museum

Munich Central Collecting Point, Munich

Movement

Romanticism

Genre

satire, allegory

Depicts

paper, justice, statue, building, column, soldier

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