Justice and Divine Vengeance Pursuing Crime
Pierre-Paul Prud'hon (1758-1823) · 1808
Under a full moon, a murderer strides away across rocky ground with a knife in one hand and a purse in the other, glancing back over his shoulder. Behind him lies his victim, a naked young man stretched out on the rocks, pale in the moonlight. Above, two winged figures sweep down through the night: Divine Vengeance with a torch, and Justice in red with a sword, her hand pointing at the fugitive. The murderer's twisted body and the calm of the corpse are lit by the cold moon.
Prud'hon painted the picture in 1808 on a commission from the prefect of the Seine for the criminal court of the Palais de Justice in Paris, where it hung above the judges. It was shown at the Salons of 1808 and 1814. In 1826 the city of Paris gave it up to the royal collection in exchange for four crucifixion scenes by other painters, and it came to the Louvre from the collection of Charles the Tenth. The soft modelling and nocturnal light show Prud'hon's debt to Leonardo and Correggio rather than to David, and the picture was much admired by Géricault and Delacroix.
Did You Know? It was painted to hang above the judges in the criminal court of Paris.
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