1570

Allegory of Justice with the Coat of Arms of Anthoni Wyss (1531-1588)

Bearing the coat of arms and name of Anthoni Wyss, a city councilor of Bern, Switzerland, this panel shows two kings lying at the feet of a blindfolded female figure, who represents Justice. Perhaps this scene is a moralizing reminder that everyone, even a king, is accountable to divine Justice. Alternatively, it could relate to the political and religious conflicts of the time. The fleur-de-lis on the royal scepter on the right, traditionally a symbol of the French monarchy, and the addition of a pope in a similar stained-glass panel donated by Wyss to a church a few years later, suggest that the image represents the punishment of Catholic authorities for their persecution of the Reformed Church. Such polemical views were customary in Bern, where the Reformation was introduced in 1528.