I have a great fondness for artistic allegories, and I owe a good part of my interest to a handful of teachers who still taught me how certain symbols were traditionally used to represent concepts to the viewer. This sort of visual language is largely lost to us now, though I hope there may be a few who can keep it going for some future generation.
There is something especially beautiful to learning about truths through images as well as words.
This particular work by Vasari is just packed with such symbols, and I am still discovering new ones many years after I first saw the painting.
Justice herself is partly nude to reflect her purity, not to dwell on any sexual qualities. We tend to see what we already are.
The ostrich, with its long neck, represents patience.
The little putti are carrying her weapons and armor to her, just in case we thought she was helpless.
To her left is Father Time, an old man with wings and and an hourglass on his head, who is in turn presenting Truth to be crowned with a wreath by Justice.
Truth carries two doves, as symbols of innocence.
The chains on Justice's belt are tying down seven vices, though their specific identities are only revealed by some subtle clues:
Corruption is staring downwards at a pile at of riches, instead of upwards at Justice.
Ignorance is accompanied by a donkey.
Cruelty shows her priorities by turning her back.
Truth herself is crushing Slander and Falsehood, and her innocent doves are smothering Treason and Fear.
The tablets of Romulus by her right side represent the ancient tradition of law, while the book above the globe stands for the Law of Moses, and the green and red books below her foot indicate the complementarity of civil and canon law.
The animal on her scepter is a hippopotamus, which legend had it would eat its own mother, and so tells us how Justice shows no prejudice. It took an old medievalist to finally explain that one to me, complete with the support of multiple examples from some dusty bestiaries.
—6/2007
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