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This painting is one of Nattier's most important royal commissions, and an equally impressive and rare surviving example of his work in a vein other than portraiture. It was commissioned by Jean-Philippe d'Orléans (1702-1748), the Grand Master or Grand Prieur of the Knights of the Order of Malta in France for the decoration of his Parisian residence the Palais du Temple.
Of the seven paintings of the decoration, recorded by his biographers, only three are now known representing cardinal virtues, Fortitude, Prudence, and Justice. The present work was the first of the three, and was installed in the Salon of the Temple early in 1737.
The painting is called Madame Adélaide as Justice, because the sitter was assumed to be Madame Adélaide, daughter of Louis XV. However, it is not documented, the figures of the virtues are anonymous, with no identification other than the allegory they embody.
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