Allegory of Good Government

Sulla parete di fondo, a sinistra, in posizione elevata, si trova la Sapienza Divina, crowned, winged and holding a book. In her right hand she holds scales, on whose scales two angels administer the two branches of justice according to the Aristotelian tradition: “distributive” (left) and “commutative” (right). The balance is adjusted by Justice enthroned, virtue and city institution which however is only administrator, being the Sapienza Divina, the only one to hold the weight of the scale and towards which the Justice itself looks away. From the lives of the two angels start two strings which come together at the hands of the Concord, a direct consequence of Justice and also seated on a chair with a plane on her lap, a symbol of equality and the "leveler" of contrasts.

In the overall view, the fresco is divided into three registers: the upper one with the divine components (Sapienza Divina and Virtù Teologali), the intermediate one with le city institutions the Justice, the Municipium, the Virtù Cardinali), the lowest one with the builders, as well as users, of these institutions (army and citizens). The rope symbolizes the union between the Justice and the Municipium, inseparable and useless without each other and held together by the citizens in a state of harmony. The fresco also expresses the perception of justice in Siena at the time, a justice that is not only the judgment of the just and guilty, but also the regulator of commercial relations. It is also a justice which, although inspired by God, does not hesitate to condemn to death and subjugate neighboring populations.

Allegory of Bad Government

Mirror paintedAllegory of Good Government, was supposed to allow direct didactic comparison with that fresco. In the center sits the personification of the throne Tirannide (Tyrannide), monstrous figure with fangs, horns, demonic hair, cross-eyed eyes and clawed feet, in decisive contrast with the Municipality in theAllegory of Good Government. The tyranny has no binding rope and at her feet slumps a demonic black goat, the antithesis of the twins' suckling she-wolf. Above her fly three vices winged, replaced at three theological virtues of the other fresco. These are theAvarice (Avaritia), with a long hook to greedily harpoon riches and two bags whose openings

are held in a vice, the Superbia (Superbia), with sword and yoke, and the Vanagloria (Vanagloria), with a mirror to admire one's material beauty and a dry frond, a sign of fickleness. Next to the Tirannide instead sit personifications of the various facets of the Bad, opposed to cardinal virtues, to the Peace and to the Magnanimity of theAllegory of Good Government. Starting from the left we find the Cruelty (Crudelitas), intent on showing a snake to a newborn; The Betrayal (Proditio), with a lamb transformed into a scorpion at the level of the tail, a symbol of falsehood; there Fraud (Fraus), with wings and clawed feet; The Fury (Furor), with the head of a boar, the torso of a man, the body of a horse and the tail of a dog, a symbol of bestial anger; there Division (Divisio), with the vertical black and white banded dress.