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A. Lo Bianco
Stapled book, 15x21 cm, pp. 32, 21 col. ill
€ 4,50
This slim volume examines the ceiling decorations of the great salon on the piano nobile of Palazzo Barberini carried out by Pietro da Cortona.
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Pietro da Cortona, byname of Pietro Berrettini (1596-1669) was an Italian artist and architect of High Baroque.
The subject of the central scene is that of the fresco as a whole, that is The Triumph of Divine Providence and the fulfilment of its ends under the papacy of Pope Urban VIII.
Providence, wrapped in a golden mantle and seated on clouds, her head surrounded by a halo of light to underline her divine nature, raises her right hand as a sign of command and holds a sceptre in her left.
Surrounding her are many figures that are closely linked to her and move at her sign.
They include Purity, Justice, Mercy, Truth and Beauty. Below them is Chronos, or Time, naked and mighty, with great feathered wings, depicted in the act of devouring his children; on his right, further references to the fleeting nature of time and its incessant passing in the shape of the Three Fates, Clotho, Lachesis and Atropos, holding the thread of human existence.
To the left of Providence and moving at her command is Immortality, wrapped in fluttering drapery and holding a crown of bright stars above the great Barberini coat of arms depicted in the centre of the vault, thus crowning it with eternal glory.
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