: It is believed that French artist Pierre-Paul Prud'hon’s masterpiece, ‘Justice and Divine Vengeance Pursuing Crime’ (1808) was inspired by Roman poet’s line from Odes, ‘Retribution rarely fails to pursue the evil man’. Known for his allegorical style, Prud'hon’s painting depicts a dead man lying sprawled on the ground, while his murderer (Crime) attempts to make an escape with the man’s belongings. Hovering above are two figures, ‘Divine Vengeance’ holding a torch and ‘Justice’ armed with a sword and scales, who are pursuing the criminal. The work of art was commissioned to be installed at the Palais de Justice in Paris in the 19th century.
While the work of art speaks of a lofty theme, little ‘justice’ was being done as a copy of the painting stood exposed to the elements of nature at the remains of the Mairie (Town Hall) building in Puducherry which collapsed on a rain-hit afternoon on November 29. The painting cuts a sorry picture covered in cloth and left behind on the remains of the wall of the stairway landing. Till Friday evening, it had not been removed and put away safely though the building was taken up for a much-delayed renovation project in October this year by the Puducherry government with financial assistance from World Bank. The building had been vacated as early as 2012.
The painting holds significance not just as one of the very few items that the authorities can yet salvage from the Mairie which witnessed important events in Puducherry’s history, but on its own strength.
The painting was sent to grace the Mairie around 1889 by Senator of French India, Jacques Hébrard, according to historian Raphael Malangin. Mr. Hébrard had served as Senator from 1882 to 1891. The painting’s arrival in the late 19th century was during a tumultuous period in the socio-political and cultural history of Pondicherry.
The French were experimenting with ‘assimilation’ in its colonies, and attempted to introduce universal suffrage here. It was also the period when the French introduced ‘renunciation’, an opportunity for the Indians to renounce the personal laws that governed them and take up the French Civil Code.
These Indians are referred to as ‘Renonçants’. There was much debate and clash of ideas and political conspiracy during this time. Thus, Mr. Hébrard’s intention of sending the painting here could have been to carry a message, feels Mr. Malangin. Incidentally, Mr. Hébrard had never been to Pondicherry. “It is possible that Hébrard wanted to show his political adversaries, particularly those operating out of Pondicherry, as criminals. Like how the painting shows that justice will catch up, he probably wanted to send a message to his opponents,” says Mr. Malangin. A valuable legacy of the Mairie, residents have been expressing hope on social media that the painting at least can still be saved.
