Divine Wisdom - Sacchi
by Weston Westmoreland
Title
Divine Wisdom - Sacchi
Artist
Weston Westmoreland
Medium
Photograph - Photograph
Description
Allegory of Divine Wisdom by Andrea Sacchi. Palazzo Barberini, Rome.
When you visit the Barberini palace, it is easy, overwhelmed by the many amazing paintings and sculptures, to pass by without raising your head to the ceilings above. And then you miss all those incredible frescoes.
This fresco was painted on the ceiling of one of the stances of the Barberini Palace, in Rome, between the years 1629 and 1631.
The fresco celebrates Divine Wisdom and it was inspired by the Book of Wisdom from the Old Testament. This text was attributed to King Solomon, the model of the wise and enlightened king, whom Urban VIII, the owner of Palazzo Barberini, likened himself to.
The Divine Wisdom is seated on a throne at the center of knowledge, surrounded by eleven figures embodying her divine attributes: on the left, Nobility (Ariadne’s crown), Eternity (the serpent biting its tail), Sweetness (the lyre), Divinity (the triangle), Justice (the scales), Strength (the club) Beneficence (the ear of wheat); on the right, Holiness (the cross and flaming altar), Purity (the swan), Perspicacity (the eagle) and Beauty (Coma Berenices or Berenices’ Hair). Two winged figures appear above, associated with a lion and a hare, symbols of the love and fear of God.
Each virtue identifies a constellation, recording the astral conjunction that took place on the night between August 5 and 6, 1623, on the election of Pope Barberini. The frescoed vault was intended as a protective talisman for the family’s destiny. Order, symmetry and pastel tones relate the fresco to the classicist strand of Baroque painting, of which Andrea Sacchi was one of the leading exponents.
More classic and modern paintings at https://weston-westmoreland.pixels.com/collections/paintings
Weston Westmoreland
Uploaded
February 7th, 2019
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Viewed 389 Times - Last Visitor from Romeo, MI on 04/23/2024 at 2:27 PM
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