Justice

1610

Barthélemy Prieur

Associated Names
Barthélemy Prieur
Sculptor, French, 1540 - 1611
The sculpture depicts a woman standing in a relaxed pose. She is holding a branch with leaves in her right hand, and the other hand rests on the hilt of a sheathed sword that is upright against her chest. She is dressed in a tight-fitting collared shirt with large buttons over a flowing skirt with a long slit. Her hair is up on her head and adorned with a wreath or crown-like detail, and her expression is neutral as she looks off to the right. The sculpture is made of a white material, and there is a small square base.

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This statue is the sole surviving portion of a tomb monument planned to contain the hearts of King Henri IV and his queen Marie de' Medici at the Jesuit College at La Flèche in the Loire Valley in France. Remaining in the workshop of the royal sculptor Prieur after his death in 1610, the statue may have been completed by his son-in-law Guillaume Dupré. Carved with dimpled flesh and puckered drapery, the symbolic figure steps forward in a skintight doublet closed with ornate buttons. The sword in her left hand is a traditional attribute of Justice, and the olive branch in her right stands for Peace, understood to be closely connected.

On View
West Building, Main Floor, East Sculpture Hall

Artwork overview

  • Medium

    marble

  • Credit Line

    Samuel H. Kress Collection

  • Dimensions

    overall with base: 181.5 x 64.3 x 49.2 cm (71 7/16 x 25 5/16 x 19 3/8 in.)

  • Accession Number

    1943.4.86

Artwork history & notes

Provenance

Count de Montessay, Juvisy-dur-Orge (Seine-et-Oise); Jean Esprit Marcellin, Paris [1821-1884]. Edward M. Hodgkins, Paris; (sale, Galerie Georges Petit, Paris, 16 May 1927, no.71). (Duveen Brothers Inc., New York) by 1940;[1] sold 1941 to the Samuel H. Kress Foundation, New York; gift 1943 to NGA.

[1] Exhibition at Duveen Galleries, 1940-41.

Associated Names

Bibliography

1941

  • Cortissoz, Royal. "Certain Figures in French Sculpture." New York Herald Tribune (5 January 1941): VI:8 (reprinted as Exh. cat., Duveen Galleries, New York, 1941).

1945

  • Paintings and Sculpture from the Kress Collection. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1945 (reprinted 1947, 1949): 201, repro., as Allegory of Victory by Germain Pilon.

1959

  • Paintings and Sculpture from the Samuel H. Kress Collection. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1959: 441, repro., Allegory of Victory by Germain Pilon.

1965

  • Summary Catalogue of European Paintings and Sculpture. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1965: 164, as Allegory of Victory by Germain Pilon.

1968

  • National Gallery of Art. European Paintings and Sculpture, Illustrations. Washington, 1968: 145, repro., as Allegory of Victory by Germain Pilon.

1976

  • Middeldorf, Ulrich. Sculptures from the Samuel H. Kress Collection: European Schools XIV-XIX Century. London, 1976: 94, repro fig. 165-167.

1981

  • Bresc-Bautier, Geneviève. "Justice et Paix: Le tombeau de Christophe de Thou par Barthélemy Prieur." La revue du Louvre et des Musees de France 1 (February 1981): 10-18, repro.

1990

  • "People: Poet Among Us." Headquarters Intercom: U.S. Department of Transportation, Federal Aviation Administration (10 April 1990): repro.

1994

  • Sculpture: An Illustrated Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1994: 177, repro.

1999

  • Norman Herz, Katherine A. Holbrow and Shelley G. Sturman. "Marble Sculture in the National Gallery of Art: a Provenance Study." In Max Schvoerer, ed. Archéomatériaux: marbres et autres roches: ASMOSIA IV, Bordeaux, France 9-13 october 1995: actes de la IVème Conférence international de l’Association pour l’étude des marbres et autres roches utilizes dans le passé. Talence, 1999: 101-110.

Wikidata ID

Q63809303

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