Allegory of Divine Providence and Barberini Power (Cortona)
Encyclopedia
The Allegory of Divine Providence and Barberini Power is a fresco by Italian painter Pietro da Cortona
, filling the large ceiling of the grand salon of the Palazzo Barberini
in Rome
, Italy
. Begun in 1633, it was nearly finished in three years; upon Cortona's return from Venice, it was extensively reworked to completion in 1639. The Palazzo, since the 1620s, had been the palatial home of the Barberini family
headed by Maffeo Barberini, by then Urban VIII, who had launched an extensive program of refurbishment of the city with art and architecture.
is ferried up to the heraldic swarm. 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.
such as found on the ceilings of the Sistine Chapel
ceiling or in Annibale Carracci
's Palazzo Farnese (completed in 1601) cycle. Baldassare Peruzzi
had pioneered this style of painting called quadratura, in which the fresco replaces or simulates some of the architectural framework, using often forced perspective. Such trompe-l'oeil artifices were not novel to Italian art, since for example Mantegna
and Giulio Romano
in Mantua
had featured such frescoes; however, for Cortona, the luminous sky became a teeming tour de force, a style that became influenced many other large fresco spectacles such as those by Tiepolo
for example, in Madrid and in the frescoes depicting the Apotheosis of the Pisani Family in the Villa Pisani at Stra. Other famous sotto in su frescoes in Rome include Andrea Pozzo
's Apotheosis of St Ignatius at the Roman church of Sant'Ignazio
.
Cortona's extravagant trompe l'oeil
panegyrics lost favor in subsequent minimalist and sardonic centuries; they seemed cheap, theatrical trickery in the 19th century, which prized "sincerity" and in which viewers became accustomed to photographic distortion. His sunny and cherubim-infested panoramas recalled Rococo
excesses and stood in stark contrast to the darker, renegade naturalism prominent among the Caravaggisti
and to the sober, classicizing restraint of Andrea Sacchi
-- but served as a reminder that the Baroque period was not at all monolithic. Despite the exuberant energies of Cortona, his Baroque excesses, like those of Annibale Carracci
in the Palazzo Farnese Gallery, were, by mid-century, reined in by the strong urge towards classicism represented by the art theorist Gian Pietro Bellori
and by Sacchi and his school, particularly his student, Carlo Maratta
.
In his time, Cortona was prized by his patrons. To contemporary observers, his art seems reactionary and, to be exact, patronizing, attaching an encyclopedia of divine virtues to a profligate and nepotistic papal family.
Pietro da Cortona
Pietro da Cortona, by the name of Pietro Berrettini, born Pietro Berrettini da Cortona, was the leading Italian Baroque painter of his time and also one of the key architects in the emergence of Roman Baroque architecture. He was also an important decorator...
, filling the large ceiling of the grand salon of the Palazzo Barberini
Palazzo Barberini
Palazzo Barberini is a palace in Rome, facing the piazza of the same name in Rione Trevi and is home to the Galleria Nazionale d'Arte Antica.-History:...
in Rome
Rome
Rome is the capital of Italy and the country's largest and most populated city and comune, with over 2.7 million residents in . The city is located in the central-western portion of the Italian Peninsula, on the Tiber River within the Lazio region of Italy.Rome's history spans two and a half...
, Italy
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
. Begun in 1633, it was nearly finished in three years; upon Cortona's return from Venice, it was extensively reworked to completion in 1639. The Palazzo, since the 1620s, had been the palatial home of the Barberini family
Barberini
The Barberini are a family of the Italian nobility that rose to prominence in 17th century Rome. Their influence peaked with the election of Cardinal Maffeo Barberini to the papal throne in 1623, as Pope Urban VIII...
headed by Maffeo Barberini, by then Urban VIII, 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 crest 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 putti 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 putti's arm. A starry Crown of ImmortalityCrown of Immortality
The Crown of Immortality is a literary and religious metaphor traditionally represented in art first as a laurel wreath and later as a symbolic circle of stars...
is ferried up to the heraldic swarm. 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 Rome at the time; most represented galleries of framed episodes, quadro riportatoQuadro riportato
Quadro riportato is the Italian phrase for "carried picture". It is used in art to describe easel paintings or framed paintings that are seen in a normal perspective and inserted into a fresco...
such as found on the ceilings of the Sistine Chapel
Sistine Chapel
Sistine Chapel is the best-known chapel in the Apostolic Palace, the official residence of the Pope in Vatican City. It is famous for its architecture and its decoration that was frescoed throughout by Renaissance artists including Michelangelo, Sandro Botticelli, Pietro Perugino, Pinturicchio...
ceiling or in Annibale Carracci
Annibale Carracci
Annibale Carracci was an Italian Baroque painter.-Early career:Annibale Carracci was born in Bologna, and in all likelihood first apprenticed within his family...
's Palazzo Farnese (completed in 1601) cycle. Baldassare Peruzzi
Baldassare Peruzzi
Baldassare Tommaso Peruzzi was an Italian architect and painter, born in a small town near Siena and died in Rome. He worked for many years, beginning in 1520, under Bramante, Raphael, and later Sangallo during the erection of the new St. Peter's...
had pioneered this style of painting called quadratura, in which the fresco replaces or simulates some of the architectural framework, using often forced perspective. Such trompe-l'oeil artifices were not novel to Italian art, since for example Mantegna
Andrea Mantegna
Andrea Mantegna was an Italian painter, a student of Roman archeology, and son in law of Jacopo Bellini. Like other artists of the time, Mantegna experimented with perspective, e.g., by lowering the horizon in order to create a sense of greater monumentality...
and Giulio Romano
Giulio Romano
Giulio Romano was an Italian painter and architect. A pupil of Raphael, his stylistic deviations from high Renaissance classicism help define the 16th-century style known as Mannerism...
in Mantua
Mantua
Mantua is a city and comune in Lombardy, Italy and capital of the province of the same name. Mantua's historic power and influence under the Gonzaga family, made it one of the main artistic, cultural and notably musical hubs of Northern Italy and the country as a whole...
had featured such frescoes; however, for Cortona, the luminous sky became a teeming tour de force, a style that became influenced many other large fresco spectacles such as those by Tiepolo
Giovanni Battista Tiepolo
Giovanni Battista Tiepolo , also known as Gianbattista or Giambattista Tiepolo, was an Italian painter and printmaker from the Republic of Venice...
for example, in Madrid and in the frescoes depicting the Apotheosis of the Pisani Family in the Villa Pisani at Stra. Other famous sotto in su frescoes in Rome include Andrea Pozzo
Andrea Pozzo
Andrea Pozzo was an Italian Jesuit Brother, Baroque painter and architect, decorator, stage designer, and art theoretician. He was best known for his grandiose frescoes using illusionistic technique called quadratura, in which architecture and fancy are intermixed...
's Apotheosis of St Ignatius at the Roman church of Sant'Ignazio
Sant'Ignazio
The Church of Saint Ignatius of Loyola at Campus Martius is Roman Catholic titular church dedicated to Ignatius of Loyola, the founder of the Jesuit order, located in Rome, Italy...
.
Cortona's extravagant trompe l'oeil
Trompe l'oeil
Trompe-l'œil, which can also be spelled without the hyphen in English as trompe l'oeil, is an art technique involving extremely realistic imagery in order to create the optical illusion that the depicted objects appear in three dimensions.-History in painting:Although the phrase has its origin in...
panegyrics lost favor in subsequent minimalist and sardonic centuries; they seemed cheap, theatrical trickery in the 19th century, which prized "sincerity" and in which viewers became accustomed to photographic distortion. His sunny and cherubim-infested panoramas recalled Rococo
Rococo
Rococo , also referred to as "Late Baroque", is an 18th-century style which developed as Baroque artists gave up their symmetry and became increasingly ornate, florid, and playful...
excesses and stood in stark contrast to the darker, renegade naturalism prominent among the Caravaggisti
Caravaggisti
The Caravaggisti were stylistic followers of the 16th century Italian Baroque painter Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio. His influence on the new Baroque style that eventually emerged from Mannerism was profound. Caravaggio never established a workshop as most other painters did, and thus had no...
and to the sober, classicizing restraint of Andrea Sacchi
Andrea Sacchi
Andrea Sacchi was an Italian painter of High Baroque Classicism, active in Rome. A generation of artists who shared his style of art include the painters Nicolas Poussin and Giovanni Battista Passeri, the sculptors Alessandro Algardi and François Duquesnoy, and the contemporary biographer Giovanni...
-- but served as a reminder that the Baroque period was not at all monolithic. Despite the exuberant energies of Cortona, his Baroque excesses, like those of Annibale Carracci
Annibale Carracci
Annibale Carracci was an Italian Baroque painter.-Early career:Annibale Carracci was born in Bologna, and in all likelihood first apprenticed within his family...
in the Palazzo Farnese Gallery, were, by mid-century, reined in by the strong urge towards classicism represented by the art theorist Gian Pietro Bellori
Gian Pietro Bellori
Gian Pietro Bellori , also known as Giovanni Pietro Bellori or Giovan Pietro Bellori, was an Italian painter and antiquarian but more famously, a prominent biographer of artists of the 17th century, equivalent to Giorgio Vasari in the 16th century...
and by Sacchi and his school, particularly his student, Carlo Maratta
Carlo Maratta
Carlo Maratta or Maratti was an Italian painter, active mostly in Rome, and known principally for his classicizing paintings executed in a Late Baroque Classical manner. Although he is part of the classical tradition stemming from Raphael, he was not exempt from the influence of Baroque painting...
.
In his time, Cortona was prized by his patrons. To contemporary observers, his art seems reactionary and, to be exact, patronizing, attaching an encyclopedia of divine virtues to a profligate and nepotistic papal family.