Allegory of Divine Providence and Barberini Power

Allegory of Divine Providence and Barberini Power
Triumph of Divine Providence
Artist	Pietro da Cortona
Year	c. 1633–1639
Type	Fresco
Location	Galleria Nazionale d'Arte Antica (Palazzo Barberini), Rome

The Allegory of Divine Providence and Barberini Power

, who had launched an extensive program of refurbishment of the city with art and architecture.

Composition

These commissioned artworks often teem with suns and bees (the Barberini family coat of arms had three bees), as also the Cortona fresco does. At one end of the sky sits the eminent solar Divine Providence, while at the other end are putto and flying maidens holding aloft the papal keys, tiara, with robe belt above a swarm of heraldic giant golden bees. Below Providence, the simulated frame crumbles. Time with a scythe seems to swallow a putto's arm. As the graceful bearer of the twelve stars that constitute Crown of Immortality is unequivocally extending it to the heraldic swarm, she earnestly looks towards Divine Providence. Some scholars have suggested that one of the fresco's goals was to portray the Barberini papal election, which had been rumored to have been rigged, as divine providence. At one edge, are laborers in a forge so hard at work, they shatter the outer frame.

Critical assessment and legacy

Frescoes were numerous in Rome at the time; most represented galleries of framed episodes,

.

See also

• Crown of Immortality

References

1. ^ Image Files-Frescos
2. ^ Allegorical ceiling in Royal Palace of Madrid by Tiepolo.
3. ^ Apotheosis of the Pisani Family Archived 2005-03-15 at the Wayback Machine by Tiepolo at Villa Pisani in Stra.
4. ^ Apotheosis of St. Ignatius by Pozzo

• Allegory of Divine Providence and Barberini Power