Giovan Francesco Barbieri known as Guercino and workshop, Allegories of Justice and Peace, First half of the 17th century, Oil on canvas, 216 × 163 cm, Padua, Museum of Medieval and Modern Art, Musei Civici agli Eremitani, Inv. 1612

From Guercino to Andrea Del Sarto, from Sansovino to Vasari, from Raphael to Guido Reni and many others, together with three works by contemporary artists - Ai Weiwei, Kendell Geers, Koen Vanmechelen - on loan from the Berengo Foundation, the exhibition is an opportunity to enhance heritage works related to the theme of Justice and share with visitors lesser-known works. The exhibition is divided into six sections, corresponding to the development of the allegorical Figure of Justice from the dawn of civilization up to the Modern Era, in which archaeological finds, coins and medals are exhibited (Sections I-II), a series of "stories and interpretations” created by the most important artists from the Middle Ages to the 1900s, works on paper, wood, canvas on which Justice dominates as a demigoddess, as a Virtue and as a Personification and Allegory of the city of Venice itself (Sections II-III). Section IV is instead dedicated to the places of temple and house of Justice, the Palaces of the Modern Age built to practice and administer it, while Section V is dedicated to the actions and ideas of intellectuals, jurists and men of letters who have always worked to eliminate the death penalty, above all Cesare Beccaria. The itinerary concludes with a series of scenes showing acts and protagonists of Justice (Section VI), immortalized as heroes and saints, and large paintings depicting episodes of the practice of the law.

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