Getty Museum
Justice and Divine Vengeance Pursuing Crime
Creator
Pierre-Paul Prud'honFrench Artist · 1758–1823
All works by this person →Born the tenth son of a stonecutter in Burgundy, Pierre Prudon altered both halves of his name and became Pierre-Paul Prud'hon, as if to relate himself to Peter Paul Rubens and to evoke landed gentry. He began studying painting in Dijon at age sixteen. He arrived in Paris in 1780, but his experience in Italy from 1784 to 1787, when he absorbed the softness and sensuality of Correggio's works and L
More on Getty ULAN- Date
- about 1805–1806
- Medium
- Oil on canvas
- Culture
- French
- Department
- Paintings
- Institution
- Getty Museum
A dead man lies sprawled across the foreground while blood seeps into the ground from a wound in his neck and his murderer flees with the victim's belongings in his arms. Above, Divine Vengeance, illuminating the way with a torch, and Justice, armed with sword and scales, pursue the criminal. Pierre-Paul Prud'hon made this study for a monumental painting destined to hang behind the judges' bench in the criminal courtroom of the Palace of Justice in Paris. Prud'hon used quick, sweeping strokes of paint to lend movement and energy to the figures. Strong contrasts of light and dark accentuate the drama of the situation. Light from the moon illuminates the faces of the avenging personifications and highlights the torso of the dead man, while the face of the murderer is cast in darkness. Inspired by the Roman poet Horace's adage that "retribution rarely fails to pursue the evil man," Prud'hon conveyed the message that the course of justice is relentless if sometimes slow.
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