Justice and Divine Vengeance Pursuing Crime

Justice and Divine Vengeance Pursuing Crime is an 1804-1808 oil on canvas painting by Pierre-Paul Prud'hon, commissioned by Nicolas Frochot, préfet de la Seine for the criminal tribunal hall (equivalent of today's assizes court) at the Palais de Justice, in Paris. It is now in the Louvre. A replica commissioned from the painter by the very rich Italian art lover Gian Battista Sommariva, a major collector of French works - it is lighter in touch and colouring than the Louvre work.

It shows the ancient Greek goddesses Themis (justice) and Nemesis (divine vengeance) with personifications of Crime and Victims of Crime. All but the victim are shown in movement. An oil sketch for the work was completed in 1806 and the full work was exhibited at the Paris Salon two years later - on the latter occasion Napoleon I decorated Prud'hon with the Légion d'honneur.