Êtes-vous Justice, Minerve ou Thémis? Een tijdschriftlogo als numen mixtum en symptoom van de versmelting van kunst & recht in het Belgische fin de siècle

Publishing house Larcier uses an emblematic figure as a company brand. Since the end of the 19th century, a goddess with helmet and sword adorns its legal publications. Often, the logo is seen as the virtue Justitia, although it clearly depicts the antique goddess Athena or Minerva. This article argues this mix-up is neither coincidental nor recent, though must be seen as a numen mixtum, a deliberate iconographic synthesis of two divinities. Combining legal periodicals and legal iconography, the authors show how Brussels’ fin-de-siècle legal professionals, led by Edmond Picard, were convinced that both art and law contributed to the Belgian nation and that the boundaries between artists and jurists were rather thin. Within this legal-artistic climate, art and law, two of Minerva’s key domains, both had to be vulgarized in one and the same effort