Allegory Paintings

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Allegory of Justice, the Truth and the Vices

Artist: Georgio Vasari (Italian, 1511–1574)

Date: 1543

Medium: Oil on canvas

Collection: Farnese Collection. National Museum of Capodimonte, Naples. Italy

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Allegory of the Earth

Artist: Noël Coypel (French, 1628-1707)

Date: c. 1670

Medium: Oil on canvas

Collection: Museum of Fine Arts of Lyon, Lyon, France

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An Allegory of Virtue

Artist: Unknown; Attributed to: Correggio (Antonio Allegri) (Italian, c. 1489-1534)

Date: c. 1550-1560

Medium: Oil on panel

Collection: National Galleries of Scotland, Edinburgh, Scotland

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Allegory of Trade

Artist: John Theodore Heins (German, active in England 1697–1756)

Date: 1743

Medium: Oil on canvas

Collection: Yale Center for British for British Art, New Haven, CT, United States

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Minerva as Victor over Ignorance

Artist: Bartholomäus Spranger (Dutch, 1546-1611)

Date: c. 1591

Medium: Oil on canvas

Collection: Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna, Austria

Description

Minerva, the goddess of arts and sciences, is at the center of the depiction. Her bare breasts also identify her as "Sapientia lactans," the nurturing mother of wisdom. She has conquered the donkey-eared "ignorance." She triumphs over dark forces and becomes the embodiment of the highest human ideals.

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Justice and Clemency

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

Date: 1765

Medium: Oil on canvas

Collection: Louvre Museum, Paris, France

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Justice and Strength (Fortitude)

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

Date: 1767

Medium: Oil on canvas

Collection: National Trust Collections, London, United Kingdom

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The Three Ages of Humans

Artist: Dosso Dossi (Italian, 1486–1541/42)

Date: 1515

Medium: Oil on canvas

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

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Sappho Giving Anacreon a Feather from Cupid's Wing

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

Date: 1770

Medium: Oil on canvas

Collection: National Trust Collections, London, United Kingdom

Description

Allegorical painting depicting two of ancient Greece’s most famous lyric poets - Sappho and Anacreon - sharing the divine, poetic inspiration of love (Eros/Cupid.

By giving Anacreon a feather from Cupid's wing, Sappho is symbolically "igniting" his poetic fire, granting him the sensual and romantic inspiration he became famous for in his works.

[allegorypaintings]

Hope

Artist: George Frederic Watts (British, 1817–1904)

Date: 1891

Medium: Oil on panel

Collection: Yale Center for British Art, New Haven, CT, United States

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Allegory of Peace

Artist: Jan Lievens (Dutch, 1607–1674)

Date: 1652

Medium: Oil on canvas

Collection: Rijksmuseum, The Hague, Netherlands

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Aucupium – Allegory of Bird hunting

Artist: Peter Candid (Flemish, c. 1548-1628)

Date: c. 1613

Medium: Oil on canvas

Collection: Bavarian National Museum, Munich, Germany

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Allegory of the Good Government of the Infant Gabriel

Artist: G. Guachi

Date: 1790

Medium: Oil on canvas

Collection: Museo Nacional del Prado, Madrid, Spain

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Portrait of a Woman and Child (Allegory of Liberality)

Artist: Francesco Bacchiacca (Italian, 1494–1557)

Date: c. 1525-1535

Medium: Oil on panel

Collection: Fisher Museum of Art, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA, United States

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Allegory of the City of Bern (The Temple of the LIberal Arts, with the City of Bern and the Goddess Minerva)

Artist: Jacques Sablet (Swiss, 1749-1803)

Date: 1779

Medium: Oil on canvas

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

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The Triumph of Truth

Artist: Hans von Aachen (German, 1552-1615)

Date: c. 1598

Medium: Oil on copper

Collection: Detroit Institute of Arts, Detroit, Michigan, United States

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Allegory of the birth of the Infant Don Fernando

Artist: Michele Parrasio (Venetian, 1516-1578)

Date: c. 1575

Medium: Oil on canvas

Collection: Museo Nacional del Prado, Madrid, Spain

Description

This work, sent by the Venetian painter to Philip II without a commission, in order to gain the monarch's favor, celebrates in a mythological-allegorical style the birth of the then heir to the Spanish throne, the Infante Don Fernando, son of Philip II . He is depicted as a child surrounded by seven ladies, representing the theological and cardinal virtues, before a bed where a lady, alluding to his mother Anne of Austria, lies, in a compositional scheme based on religious nativity scenes.