Lot Essay
The present lot depicts a female allegory of Justice reading the Institutions of the Emperor Justinian I, an elementary handbook on Roman law which appeared during the reign of Justinian.
Dated 1636, this is among the earliest recorded works by the artist. E. Romagnoli in Biografia Cronologica de' Bellartisti Senesi, records a Giustizia by Mei, but signed on the sword, among a large group of paintings by the artist formerly in the Palazzo Bianchi Bandinelli, Siena (see C. del Bravo, Presentazione di Bernardino Mei, Pantheon, XXIV, 1966, pp. 294-302)
Dated 1636, this is among the earliest recorded works by the artist. E. Romagnoli in Biografia Cronologica de' Bellartisti Senesi, records a Giustizia by Mei, but signed on the sword, among a large group of paintings by the artist formerly in the Palazzo Bianchi Bandinelli, Siena (see C. del Bravo, Presentazione di Bernardino Mei, Pantheon, XXIV, 1966, pp. 294-302)