In 1544, Ercole II d’Este commissioned a series of paintings for the ‘stanzie nove de corte’, i.e. those rooms near Via Coperta, in the Palazzo Ducale in Ferrara. Documents preserved in the Este archives in Modena record the payment made in the same year to Battista Dossi for painting four works Day (now lost), Night and Dawn (preserved in Dresden) and Justice. The latter canvas was probably matched by the Peace also painted by Battista Dossi, similar both in allegorical subject and size (kept in Dresden) and completed the series of Case and Penance by Girolamo da Carpi and Patience by Camillo Filippi. About ten years later, after the renovation of the Castle was completed, the paintings were moved to the ‘Patience Room’, which was to become Ercole’s most representative and prestigious space. In fact, on the walls were exhibited the works reflecting the Duke’s political virtues, here was also the extraordinary bust of Ercole II sculpted by Prospero Spani.
After the death of his brother, Battista Dossi became a polyhedric court painter, and was in fact called upon to work on various projects: from the creation of furniture to the design of ephemeral apparatus for festivities to the preparation of designs for tapestries. In the depiction of ‘Justice’ – and also in that of ‘Peace’ – references to classical statuary can be found, the painter places a young woman standing in the centre of the canvas, holding a lyre beam with her right hand, alluding to the severity of the rules, while with her left hand she holds suspended in balance a littorio fascis, a symbol of fairness. Incorruptibility and integrity are instead represented by the three metal vases overturned on the ground from which coins have spilled out, scattered at the feet of Justice. The woman wears a long green dress and a red surcoat richly decorated with embroidery and pearls, on her chest is fastened a blue cloak on the outside and yellow on the inside, at her feet she wears golden sandals. Justice’s gaze, turned to the right, is serene but inscrutable, while a warm smile seems to rise from her lips. Her blond hair is plaited on her head in an elaborate hairstyle from which some locks fall to her shoulders, her head is encircled by a dark veil. Behind her is painted a dense vegetation, perhaps a wild poplar or a cactus, typical of the Emilian landscape, while to the right is a hilly landscape characterised by a bristling, rocky mountain, at the base of which are several architectures, probably a city.
After the Devolution of Ferrara, the paintings of ‘Justice’ and ‘Peace’ were transferred to Modena (1598), where they remained until 1746 when they entered the list of one hundred paintings in the Este collection sold by Duke Francesco III d’Este to Augustus III, King of Poland and Elector of Saxony, for the Gemäldegalerie in Dresden.
