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VERSION 2.0 IN PROGRESS

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XI - Justice
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An Angel holds the Scales of Justice. On one side, a man is being pulled down by devils. On the other, small angels struggle to help a woman to restore the balance. The Angel's staff is topped by a gilt owl to signify knowledge.

My Interpretation: Do what is right. Fairness, justice and equal opportunity. Fate may aim to give all what they deserve, but sometimes she needs a helping hand, and the strong should help the weak. (Reversed: Injustice, false accusations and prejudice)

Edit notes to self: This is reasonably similar to the Rider-Waite card, so should be recognisable to RWD readers. I have given her a staff topped with a gilt owl rather than a sword, as my personal belief of Justice is that it is more effectively achieved by wise counsel than threat of force. And it fitted better with the composition... Still to do - pretty happy with it.

Sources:

Base Pic: Guariento d'Arpo, Italian painter (active 1338-1368 in Padua); Archangel 1350 Tempera on panel, 80 x 57 cm Museo Civico, Padua.

Angels: Giotto di Bondone, Italian painter, Florentine school (b. 1267, Vespignano, d. 1337, Firenze); Scenes from the Life of Christ: Flight into Egypt, 200 x 185 cm and Crucifixion, 200 x 185 cm - both Frescoes 1304-06 in Cappella Scrovegni (Arena Chapel), Padua.

Devils: Benozzo Gozzoli, Italian painter, Florentine school (b. cca. 1420, Firenze, d. 1497, Pistoia); Scenes from the Life of St Francis 1452 Fresco, 270 x 220 cm Apsidal chapel, San Francesco, Montefalco.

Gilt Owl on Staff: Pieter Coustens, Flemish painter (active 1453-1487 in Bruges and Brussels); Coat-of-Arms of Anthony of Burgundy 1478 Oil on panel, 94.2 x 58.7 cm Sint-Salvatorskerk, Bruges.

People in Scale Cups: Hans Memling, Flemish painter (b. cca.1440, Seligenstadt, d. 1494, Bruges); Last Judgment Triptych (central panel) 1467-71 Oil on wood, 221 x 161 cm Muzeum Narodowe, Gdansk.

Parchment Text Panel: Unknown Illuminators, England; The Aberdeen Bestiary (Aberdeen University Library MS 24), written and illuminated around 1200. Aberdeen University, Scotland.

Gilt Border: Conrad Witz, Swiss painter (b. cca 1400, Rottweil, d. cca. 1445, Basel); King Solomon and the Queen of Sheba 1435 Panel, 84 x 79 cm Staatliche Museen, Berlin.

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