Allegories (Bellini)

The Perseverance	The Fortune
The Prudence	The Falsehood

The Four Allegories is a series of four small panel paintings in the Gallerie dell'Accademia, Venice, Italy by the Italian Renaissance master Giovanni Bellini, whose date has been variously argued as different points in the range 1490–1504. They all measure 34 (Perseverance) or 32 × 22 cm in size.

History

Originally, the four panels probably decorated a small bathroom cabinet in walnut wood, provided with a mirror and rack, owned by the painter Vincenzo Catena. In his will, he left the cabinet to Antonio Marsili. At the time, these cabinets were rather widespread, and a decree issued by the Venetian Senate in 1489 had attempted to limit their construction. They were often decorated by symbolic figures with moral symbolism.

Description

The panels constitute a rare item in Bellini's production, though they have been usually compared to his Holy Allegory in the Uffizi, and the Accademia has another such panel by Bellini or possibly Andrea Previtali, an allegory of Fortune (27 × 19 cm) from a different origin.

Perseverance shows a virtuous warrior to whom Bacchus is offering fruit from a wagon pulled by puttoes. It has been described also as an allegory of lust. The Fortune, or Inconstancy, shows a woman on an unstable boat, surrounded by puttoes, holding a sphere. The Prudence depicts a naked woman pointing out a mirror; it has been differently interpreted as Vanity also.

Falsehood shows a man (different from the usual representation as a woman) exiting a shell, symbol of crookedness of lies. Armed with a snake (symbol of calumny), he is assailing what resembles a hermit, who is setting for the wisdom path from a pedestal, where is also the artist's signature. This figure has been also interpreted as the Virtus Sapientia ("virtue of the wisdom"), the shell being a positive symbol of generation.

External links

Media related to Five Allegories by Giovanni Bellini and Andrea Previtali at Wikimedia Commons

Sources

Olivari, Mariolina (2007). "Giovanni Bellini". Pittori del Rinascimento. Florence: Scala. 888117099X.
Nepi Sciré, Giovanna & Valcanover, Francesco, Accademia Galleries of Venice, Electa, Milan, 1985, ISBN 88-435-1930-1

v t e Giovanni Bellini
List of works
Paintings	St. Jerome in the Desert (Birmingham) Madonna and Child (Pavia) Transfiguration (Venice) Pietà (Bergamo) Crucifixion Pietà (Milan) Agony in the Garden Dead Christ Supported by Two Angels Presentation at the Temple Christ Blessing (Paris) Frizzoni Madonna Madonna and Child Blessing The Blood of the Redeemer Madonna and Child (Milan, 1460–1465) Greek Madonna Nativity Triptych Saint Vincent Ferrer Altarpiece San Lorenzo Triptych San Sebastiano Triptych Triptych of the Madonna The Head of St John the Baptist Dead Christ Supported by Two Angels (Berlin) Dead Christ Supported by Angels (Rimini) The Dead Christ Supported by the Virgin Mary and St John the Evangelist Lehman Madonna Pesaro Altarpiece Portrait of Georg Fugger Lochis Madonna Madonna and Child (Verona) Enthroned Madonna Adoring the Sleeping Christ Child Madonna and Child (Venice, 1475) Madonna Adoring the Sleeping Christ Child St. Francis in Ecstasy Contarini Madonna Resurrection of Christ Portrait of a Humanist Transfiguration of Christ (Naples) Willys Madonna St. Jerome in the Desert (Florence) Saint Jerome Reading in a Landscape Alzano Madonna Madonna of the Red Cherubim Madonna and Child (New York, late 1480s) San Giobbe Altarpiece Madonna and Child with Saint Peter and Saint Sebastian Madonna of the Small Trees Barbarigo Altarpiece Frari Triptych Madonna and Child with Saint Mary Magdalene and Saint Ursula Portrait of a Young Man in Red Madonna and Child with the Infant St. John the Baptist Portrait of a Young Man (Paris) Holy Allegory Portrait of a Young Senator Allegories Portrait of a Condottiero Annunciation Christ Blessing (Fort Worth) Circumcision of Christ* Lamentation over the Dead Christ (Florence) Portrait of a Young Man (Washington) Self-Portrait Portrait of a Young Man (Liverpool) Baptism of Christ Head of the Redeemer Portrait of Doge Leonardo Loredan Madonna and Child with St. John the Baptist and a Female Saint Martinengo Pietà Portrait of a Young Man (Royal Collection) St. Jerome in the Desert (Washington) San Zaccaria Altarpiece Madonna del Prato Portrait of the Loredan Family The Infant Bacchus Sacred Conversation (Madrid) St. Mark Preaching in Alexandria The Assassination of Saint Peter Martyr Madonna and Child with Four Saints and Donor The Continence of Scipio Madonna and Child (Detroit) Madonna and Child (Rome) Madonna and Child (Milan, 1510) Virgin in Glory with Saints Saints Christopher, Jerome and Louis of Toulouse The Feast of the Gods Drunkenness of Noah Naked Young Woman in Front of a Mirror Portrait of Fra Teodoro of Urbino as Saint Dominic Deposition
Other	Martyrdom of Saint Maurice and his Comrades (illuminated manuscript; attributed)
Related	San Zaccaria, Venice (1995 photograph) Venetian Renaissance
Family	Jacopo Bellini (father) Gentile Bellini (brother) Andrea Mantegna (brother-in-law)
* Workshop