Divine Justice

1808

Not on view

Based on a drawing now at the Met (2015.44), this print reproduces key figures from Elysium and Tartarus (1777–83), the enormous painting Barry executed for the Society of Arts, London. Barry, who received little recompense for the latter commission, decided to disseminate his ideas through a set of etchings, but he was dissatisfied with a 1792 image (see 2018.353) that necessarily reduced the number of figures in the related painting. In 1802 he conceived of six large prints devoted to key compositional groups, two as a pendant pair: Divine Justice and The Angelic Guards. (the present work and 2016.596). Together, these convey the idea that the greatest legacy of the powerful historical figures portrayed was their patronage of the arts.

Artwork Details

Title: Divine Justice
Artist: James Barry (Irish, Cork 1741–1806 London)
Date: 1808
Medium: Etching and engraving; final published state
Dimensions: Plate: 29 1/8 × 19 7/8 in. (74 × 50.5 cm)
Sheet: 37 in. × 25 1/8 in. (94 × 63.8 cm)
Classification: Prints
Credit Line: A. Hyatt Mayor Purchase Fund, Marjorie Phelps Starr Bequest, 2016
Object Number: 2016.595
Curatorial Department: Drawings and Prints

More Artwork

By James Barry

In the same medium

Satan, Sin, and Death: "Death and Sin met by Satan on his Return from Earth", James Barry Irish, Graphite, brush and brown ink, gray and brown wash heightened with touches of white — Satan, Sin, and Death: "Death and Sin met by Satan on his Return from Earth"
James Barry
Subject Relates to John Milton
1792–95

Scrapbook of Drawings and Prints, Gideon Saint British, Pen and ink, engraving and etching — Scrapbook of Drawings and Prints
Gideon Saint
ca. 1760

Orpheus Instructing a Savage People in Theology and the Arts of Social Life, James Barry Irish, Etching and engraving; second state of three — Orpheus Instructing a Savage People in Theology and the Arts of Social Life
James Barry
plate dated May 1, 1791, issued 1792

The Round Tower, from "Carceri d'invenzione" (Imaginary Prisons), Giovanni Battista Piranesi Italian, Etching, engraving, sulphur tint or open bite, burnishing; first state of four (Robison) — The Round Tower, from "Carceri d'invenzione" (Imaginary Prisons)
Giovanni Battista Piranesi
Publisher Giovanni Bouchard
ca. 1749–50

Job Reproved by His Friends, James Barry Irish, Etching over traces of aquatint; third state of five — Job Reproved by His Friends
James Barry
dated 1777; issued ca. 1790

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