allegorypaintings

[allegorypaintings]

Allegory of Navigation with an Astrolabe

Artist: Paolo Caliari Veronese (Italian, 1528-1588)

Date: 1555-1560

Medium: Oil on canvas

Collection: Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles, CA, United States

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Triumph of the Sun

Artist: Johann Heiss (German, 1640-1704)

Date: 17th century

Medium: Oil on canvas

Collection: Gallery Neuse, Bremen, Germany

Description

This multi-figure, allegorical painting by Johann Heiss is a lesson in German Baroque painting. At least twenty divine beings allegorise the four elements – fire, water, air and earth – and the four seasons. The all-encompassing driving force is the sun, which stands as the god Sol in a triumphal chariot in the centre of the composition.

“The power of the sun over the seasons, the times of the day and the elements are symbolized in the form of a complex pictorial riddle. Sol-Helios dominates from clouds, standing in a quadriga and storming ahead of the morning star and the aurora, announcing the on break of day. Behind him is the winged night, in the darkness of which a faun and a woman indulge their lust in the shadows. Above them, Selene the moon goddess follows behind Sol.

[allegorypaintings]

An Allegory of Fruitfulness

Artist: Jacob Jordaens (Flemish, 1593-1678)

Date: c. 1620-1629

Medium: Oil on canvas

Collection: The Wallace Collection, London, United Kingdom

[allegorypaintings]

Allegory of Europe

Artist: Jean-Baptiste Oudry (French, 1686–1755)

Date: 1722

Medium: Oil on canvas

Collection: The Museum of Fine Arts Houston, Houston, TX, United States

[allegorypaintings]

Allegory of Rhetoric

Artist: Laurent de La Hyre (French, 1606–1656)

Date: 1650

Medium: Oil on canvas

Collection: Private Collection

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Vigilance Embracing Peace

Artist: Jacob de Backer (Flemish, c. 1555 – c. 1591)

Date: 16th century

Medium: Oil painting

Collection: Private Collection

[allegorypaintings]

Allegory of Spring

Artist: Johann Heiss (German, 1640-1704)

Date: 17th century

Medium: Oil on canvas

Collection: Private Collection

[allegorypaintings]

Victory of Virtue over Vice

Artist: Francesco Conti (Italian, 1681-1760)

Date: c. 1709

Medium: Oil on canvas

Collection: Private Collection

[allegorypaintings]

Messina Returned to Spain

Artist: Luca Giordano (Italian, 1634-1705)

Date: 1678

Medium: Oil on canvas

Collection: Museo Nacional del Prado, Madrid, Spain

Description

This allegorical scene symbolizes Spain in the figure of a woman who is being crowned and enthroned over the four cardinal virtues (Prudence, Justice, Fortitude and Temperance), the pillars of the country´s good government. they are accompanied by their attributes and by multiple cupids. On the left of the composition, Fortune, also personified by a female figure, keeps a warrior representing France from coming onboard. This painting is the only surviving member of a set of four large canvases Giordano made for Carlos II to commemorate the Monarch´s victory over the French army at Messina. These works led Palomino to qualify the Italian artist as “the father of History with a brush.”

[allegorypaintings]

The Union of Love and Friendship

Artist: Pierre-Paul Prud'hone (French, 1758-1823)

Date: c. 1793

Medium: Oil on canvas

Collection: Minneapolis Institute of Art, Minneapolis, Minnesota, United States

[allegorypaintings]

Omnia Vincit Amor, or The Power of Love in the Three Elements

Artist: Benjamin West (American, 1738–1820)

Date: 1809

Medium: Oil on canvas

Collection: Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York City, NY, United States

Description

"Omnia vincit Amor," (Love triumphs over Everything) is a quotation from Virgil’s Eclogues. Venus, the goddess of love, is shown at the left with her attributes the doves and with her small son, Amor, armed with bow and arrows, clinging to her draperies. A young deity, presumably Hymen, god of marriage, brandishes a flaming torch with his right hand and grasps in his left cords that leash an eagle. The eagle symbolizes all the creatures living in the element Air, a hippocampus stands for those of the Water, and a lion for those on Earth. The fourth element, Fire, is implicit in the goddess herself, in the winged Amores, or little Loves, and most particularly in Hymen’s flaming torch.

[allegorypaintings]

The Fountain of Love

Artist: Jean Honore Fragonard (French, 1732-1806)

Date: c. 1785

Medium: Oil on canvas

Collection: Getty Museum Collection, Los Angeles, CA, United States

[allegorypaintings]

Allegory of Smell

Artist: Louis-Jean-Francois Lagrenée (French, 1725-1805)

Date: 1775

Medium: Oil on canvas

Collection: Museo Nacional del Prado, Madrid, Spain

Description

Lagrenèe, a member of the Paris Royal Academy of Painting and Sculpture, trained under Carle van Loo (1705-1765). He travelled in Italy, and worked for the French and Russian courts. This painting is one of a series -the Five Senses- which included the Allegory of Touch, also in the Prado. Both were commissioned by a British nobleman.

[allegorypaintings]

Allegory of Earth

Artist: Jan Brueghel the Younger (Flemish, 1601-1678), Hendrik van Balen (Flemish, c. 1573–1575-1632)

Date: 1630-1635

Medium: Oil painting

Collection: Utah Museum of Fine Arts, Salt Lake City, Utah, United States

Description

In Allegory of Earth, we see depictions of a rich and fertile landscape, and nature’s bounty in the blooming flowers and fruitful harvest. This lushness is highlighted with a celestial, religious scene in the sky. Both the earthly and heavenly beings appear set to partake: the earthlings harvesting food, and those in heaven sat down at a table. Those on earth work to pass the bounty heavenward, where the gods are prepared to feast.

[allegorypaintings]

Four Continents: Europe

Artist: Antonio Zucchi, RA (Italian, 1726-1796)

Date: 1767

Medium: Oil on paper laid into plaster (overdoor)

Collection: National Trust Collections, London, United Kingdom

[allegorypaintings]

Minerva as Patroness of the Arts

Artist: Johann Heiss (German, 1640-1704)

Date: n. d.

Medium: Oil on canvas

Collection: Private Collection

Description

A classic painting showcases a regally dressed woman seated on an ornate throne, surrounded by a diverse array of individuals, including warriors and children. The vibrant colors and detailed attire, along with various classical objects like a shield, helmet, and urn, evoke a scene from antiquity, rich with narrative and symbolism.

[allegorypaintings]

Allegorical Portrait of an Artist in Her Studio

Artist: Michiel van Musscher (Dutch, 1645-1705)

Date: ca. 1675–1685

Medium: Oil on canvas

Collection: North Carolina Museum of Art, Raleigh, NC, United States