A journey through the history of the Justice card

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Hello Tarot history lovers,
I managed to finalize my pages about the three virtues before the beginning of the month of December. My latest page is about the virtue of Justice, that happened to be a far more interesting subject than I ever could imagine. Don't hesitate to comment to the page or to send me a mail. You can find the page on the following address: https://www.tarotwheel.net/history/the% ... ticia.html

Re: A journey through the history of the Justice card

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I enjoyed reading your web-page on Justice. A few comments.

"Council" in the first paragraph should be "counsel." The Rosenthal is considered a 19th century production; however, it may reflect earlier designs now lost. The "spiderweb" is a polygonal halo whose sides bend inward toward their middles. It was used on allegorical personifications, not necessarily only virtues. Dal Ponte used them on the personifications of the liberal arts, for example (http://jeannedepompadour.blogspot.com/2 ... -1500.html), and the Triumph of Fame in manuscripts or marriage chests sometimes used it, as well as the Ch. VI World card. They were used only in Italy, as far as I can tell, and especially in Florence.

As far as a definition of the virtue, Aquinas was a major influence in 15th century Italy (Summa Theologiae II.II.58, https://www.newadvent.org/summa/3058.htm), also Aristotle, and in the 15th century, Plato, in the Republic. The general sense was that of rendering to each person his or her due. Plato saw it in terms of each part of the soul, or the state, doing its proper work (Repub. 441C). Only in Plato was it the most important virtue, at least in the sense of being in the soul or state as a whole, whereas wisdom was that of the head or Guardians. For all of them Wisdom was distinct from Justice. Aquinas had Prudence, i.e. Wisdom for man (Summa Theologiae II.II, q. 47), above Justice in his hierarchy (SummaTheologiae II.II. q. 123, art. 12).

The question of who commissioned the Charles VI is in dispute. There is no reason to prefer Ferrara, at least without more argument than I have seen. There are good but not conclusive grounds for saying Florence. You say "The virtue of Justice first appeared in the beginning of the 13th century, and then only in religious art works." It is a good issue, when and how depictions of Justice arose in the middle ages. There was a period when it was just "virtue" or "the virtues". Katzenellenbogen in Allegories of virtues and vices in medieval art sees them as arising in the context of the four cardinal virtues starting in the 9th century (his earliest example) and in full flower by the 11th (p. 45), although the majority of his examples do come from the 13th.

Whether the "judicial system" referred to, with its sword, is human or divine is unclear; I'd guess both. There is also justice as one of the four cardinal virtues to be practiced by every individual. The XX on the B region card puts it just after the Angel of Judgment, which might indeed associate it with the angel Michael, as he was often depicted holding a scales and a sword. But as you say, he is not the personification of Justice. In the image of the scales at the Last Judgment, I would think that the devil is not being prevented from pulling souls to hell out of the pan of the scales, nor is he being killed, as being opposed to pushed back. It would seem to me that his reach is being limited to souls who fall below a certain level, allowing also for divine grace. It could also be seen in other ways. It is interesting that Giotto would be like Plato, given that Aquinas had elevated the virtue higher, and Plato's Republic was unknown in the West until its first translation near the beginning of the 15th century. And besides justice as delivered by God or judicial systems,

I liked your observations about the disappearance of the scales in some depictions. Some have interpreted the arm resting on the bar of the scales as representing God's mercy, since exact justice would doom us all to hell, and the sovereign's mercy here on earth. About the crossed ankles, it seems worth mentioning that Durer's Sol Iusticia has this pose, about which Panofsky said (Durer, p. 78)
A nimbed man with the attributes of Justice, a pair of scales and a sword, is seated on a lion patterned after those which Durer had sketched in Venice (909, fig. 57, and 1327). The crossed legs also refer to the idea of Justice; this attitude, denoting a calm and superior state of mind, was actually prescribed to judges in ancient German law-books.
I cannot see how "Justice" is the personification and "La Justice" the virtue, as you maintain, since the depiction is precisely the same with each wording. Your point would require justification with reference to French texts of the period. If you are thinking of Justice as a proper name, well, there is La Hire among others.

The owl is a symbol of Wisdom (Athena's bird), fitting for a virtue above Justice. Your statement at the end about how removing the sword from the card restores the original symbol ignores that the monster beneath the scales of Ma'at was the Egyptian version of the sword, ready to gobble up the rejected soul. Why the scales is a primary symbol, in contexts other than judgment after death, would be worth discussing further. In my view it has to do with distributive justice and equal for equal. Many discussions ignore the sword; I liked that you didn't.
cron