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Wikimedia Commons · CC0 · Hover to magnify, click for fullscreen
Original fileRechtvaardigheid (Justitia) De zeven hoofddeugden (serietitel)
after Hendrick Goltzius
The personified virtue stands elegantly in a curved niche, gripping a sword and a balance while looking toward the viewer. Small shields in the upper corners display the Tablets of the Law and a crossed palm and sword, symbolizing the source and victory of justice. The Latin verse at the base appeals for the return of the goddess Astraea to a world filled with fraud and malice.
The identification of Justice with Astraea connects this work to the Neoplatonic ideal of the 'renovatio,' or the restoration of a lost Golden Age of divine order on earth. This motif was central to late 16th-century humanist thought and the political-philosophical imagery found in the circles of the Haarlem Mannerists and the court of Rudolf II.
HG. Inue. 4 Sincera, atq; exosa dolum, fraudesq; malignas, O' quando tandem terras Astraea reuises? F.E.
Translation
HG. Inv. 4 Sincere, and hating deceit and malignant frauds, O when at last will you return to earth, Astraea? F.E.
Ovid
Ovid's Metamorphoses describes Astraea as the last of the immortals to flee the earth at the onset of the Iron Age, a theme echoed in the inscription.
Virgil
The Fourth Eclogue's prophecy of the return of the Virgin (Astraea) and a new Golden Age was a foundational concept for Renaissance Neoplatonic philosophy.
Object
Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam
Engraving
allegory
Digital Source
Wikimedia Commons · CC0
http://hdl.handle.net/10934/RM0001.COLLECT.382344
Creative Commons Zero, Public Domain Dedication
3596 × 6910 px
472946f134e630269415f46101b3c52cef41d577
December 28, 2019
March 23, 2026
Linked Data
AI AI-cataloged fields generated by gemini-3-flash-preview on April 1, 2026. Getty identifiers are AI-inferred and may require verification.