Justice and Art, Face to Face

This essay studies in detail, for the first time and in the context of legal as well as art history, Sir Joshua Reynolds's representation of Justice (1779). We argue that the image is of particular significance in the history of representations of justice, and marks the emergence of neoclassical ideals. These ideals became, for example in the work of Sir William Blackstone, central to the development of Anglo-American concepts of the common law. We argue that Reynolds's work exemplifies a profound shift and a rich complexity in these concepts.