Abstract

The impulse for the conference from which these proceedings are the result was formed by the exhibition ‘The Art of Law. Three Centuries of Justice Depicted’, on view in the Groeningemuseum in Bruges from 27 October 2016 until 5 February 2017. The exhibition sought to highlight the development of the legal system and some of its judicial institutions in the Low Countries. The artworks in the exhibition were a testimony of the underlying values that guided justice and the practice of law during the period between around 1450 and 1750. The curators of the exhibition brought together over one hundred and twenty works within the theme of justice and courts of law. The works in the exhibition were approached not only from an art-historical perspective, but also from the context of law and justice. This supplementary perspective was meant to bring their original function to the fore. This section briefly discusses the most important themes of the exhibition, and focuses on some of the most important artworks within each theme.