116 GIOTTO AND HIS WORKS IN PADUA

vulgar and most frequent conception (afterwards continually repeated, as by Sir Joshua in his window at New College), Temperance is confused with mere abstinence, the opposite of Gula or gluttony, whereas the Greek Temperance, a truly cardinal virtue, is the moderator of all the passions, and so represented by Giotto, who has placed a bridle upon her lips, and a sword in her hand, the hilt of which she is binding to the scabbard. In his system, she is opposed among the vices, not by Gula or gluttony, but by Ira, anger.”-Stones of Venice, vol. ii. ch. viii. § 80 (Vol. X. p. 395).

Lord Lindsay merely says:-

“Her mouth bridled, and holding a sword, which she has bound round with thongs so tightly that it cannot be unsheathed, at least till they are unwound” (vol. ii. p. 197).

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JUSTICE

(Frontispiece to Fors Clavigera, Letter 11)

“Giotto has given his whole strength to the painting of this virtue, representing her as enthroned under a noble Gothic canopy, holding scales, not by the beam, but one in each hand; a beautiful idea, showing that the equality of the scales of Justice is not owing to natural laws, but to her own immediate weighing causes in her own hands. In one scale is an executioner beheading a criminal; in the other an angel crowning a man, who seems (in Selvatico’s plate)¹ to have been working at a desk or table. Beneath her feet is a small predella, representing various persons riding securely in the woods, and others dancing to the sound of music.”-Stones of Venice, vol. ii. ch. viii. § 83 (Vol. X. p. 398).

“I have given you this month ... Giotto’s Image of Justice, which, you observe, differs somewhat from the Image of Justice we used to set up in England, above insurance offices, and the like. Bandaged close about the eyes, our English Justice was wont to be, with a pair of grocers’ scales in her hand, wherewith, doubtless, she was accustomed to weigh out accurately their shares to the landlords, and portions to the labourers, and remunerations to the capitalists. But Giotto’s Justice has no bandage about her eyes (Albert Dürer’s has them round open, and flames flashing from them²), and weighs, not with scales, but with her own hands; and weighs, not merely the shares or remunerations of men, but the worth of them; and finding them worth this or that, gives them what they deserve-death or honour. Those are her forms of Remuneration.”-Fors Clavigera, Letter 11.

¹ [One of several outlines (Tavola 7) cut on wood in the work of Selvatico referred to above, p. 14 n.]

² [For another reference to Dürer’s plate, see Vol. XIX. p. 273 (No. 23).]

[Version 0.04: March 2008]