CORTONA, Pietro da

The picture shows one of the scenes in the Stanza della Stufa. A Roman general distributes the spoils of war to his soldiers, who have proven their valour in combat. In the foreground, a group of prisoners in chains is huddled next to a bundle of trophies. According to Ovid, people in the Age of Bronze may have been wild and combative, but they were neither cruel nor immoral.

The Stanza della Stufa is a smaller room on the piano nobile that was one of the grand duke’s private chambers. It took its name from its heated floor (“stufa” means heater). Cortona painted here the Age of Gold and the Age of Silver on the north wall in 1637. The Age of Bronze and Age of Iron were realized only later in 1641. The iconographic concept is based on Ovid’s Metamorphoses.

The picture shows one of the scenes in the Stanza della Stufa. This last Age of the series offers a scene rife with violence: two Roman soldiers are profaning a temple and killing a priest while others are slaughtering men and women, young and old, without remorse. Cortona does not, however, depict a completely corrupted, decadent society like the one Ovid had described. He preferred instead to retain a human aspect by presenting a number of innocent people who fall victim to their cruel predators.

The Stanza della Stufa is a smaller room on the piano nobile that was one of the grand duke’s private chambers. It took its name from its heated floor (“stufa” means heater). Cortona painted here the Age of Gold and the Age of Silver on the north wall in 1637. The Age of Bronze and Age of Iron were realized only later in 1641. The iconographic concept is based on Ovid’s Metamorphoses.

Pietro da Cortona (Pietro Berrettini) was an architect, painter and decorator, one of the most influential masters of the Roman Baroque art. As a fresco painter, he was famous for his complex, large artworks. The Apotheose of Aeneas was executed for the ceiling of the Long Gallery of the Palazzo Pamphilj. It was commissioned by Pope Innocent X.

Compared with his great fresco cycles, Cortona’s easel paintings are of secondary importance. But if they alone survived, he would still rank as one of the leading figures of the High Baroque. Compared with his early paintings, in Augustus and the Sibyl the classical and archaeological paraphernalia have grown in importance at the expense of the figures. The meticulous observance of classical decorum shows Cortona in step with the late Poussin.

The Sala di Saturno (Hall of Saturn) is part of a cycle of five rooms in the Palazzo Pitti, each one illustrating a different planetary deity (the others are Venus, Apollo, Mars, and Jupiter), who allude to the virtues and merits of the Medici dynasty. The stuccoes are framed by real stucco ornament, which is clearly distinguished from the painted scenes, thereby creating a sumptuous and dazzling decorative effect between the frescoes and the white and gilded stucco figures. The work was executed by Cortona’s pupil Ciro Ferri after Cortona’s design.

The ceiling of the Galleria Pamphilj was painted by Pietro da Cortona with the Legend of Aeneas in 1651-54. After the mid-seventeenth century it became the new pattern for palace galleries, not only in Italy but also in Paris, where in 1704-07 a gallery was appended to the Palais Royal and painted with the same subject matter by Antoine Coypel. The form and iconography of the Galleria Pamphilj continued to be major influences well into the eighteenth century - even on the work of artists with no direct contacts with Rome, e.g. on Lorenzo de’ Ferrari in Genoa.

The picture shows the the ceiling decoration in the Sala di Venere (Hall of Venus). In the centre The Youthful Hero Is Torn from the Arms of Venus by Apollo is depicted.

The picture shows the centre of the ceiling in the Sala di Venere. It depicts The Youthful Hero Is Torn from the Arms of Venus by Apollo.

The Hall of Jupiter (Sala di Giove) is one of the most magnificent of all room s in the Palazzo Pitti. It was designed for Ferdinando II de’ Medici as a Throne Room. The frescoed ceiling by Pietro da Cortona echoes this theme by portraying Jupiter about to crown the young prince.

The picture shows the ceiling painting in the Sala di Giove. It depicts Jupiter Crowning the Victorious Hero.

The picture shows the ceiling painting in the Sala di Marte. It depicts The Hero’s Victory at Sea and Allegory of Peace.

The Medici coat-of-arms, with its well-known arrangement of spheres in an oval, is prominently displayed at the centre of the ceiling. Next to it is Mars, about to start war with a lightning bolt, and below him scenes of naval and land battles.

The picture shows the centre of the ceiling painting in the Sala di Apollo. It depicts Apollo Instructing the Young Hero. Cortona left the ceiling unfinished when he returned to Rome in 1647. It was only in 1659, after the scaffolding had stood idle for twelve years that Cortona consented to having this ceiling finished by his Roman pupil Ciro Ferri, after cartoons based on his drawings.

The picture shows the centre of the ceiling painting in the Sala di Apollo. It depicts Apollo Instructing the Young Hero. Cortona left the ceiling unfinished when he returned to Rome in 1647. It was only in 1659, after the scaffolding had stood idle for twelve years that Cortona consented to having this ceiling finished by his Roman pupil Ciro Ferri, after cartoons based on his drawings.

The picture shows one of the frescoed lunettes that show the many gods of Olympus,

This detail of the ceiling painting in the Sala di Marte shows the Allegory of Peace.

The centre part of the ceiling fresco shows Divina Providentia surrounded by virtues, below them the Parcae and Chronos. Above Providentia is Immortalitas with a crown of stars. The three theological virtues Faith, Hope, and Love are shaping a laurel wreath around the Barberini bees crowned by Religio with the keys and Roma with the papal tiara.

The picture shows the painting on the ceiling vault of the Salone in the Palazzo Barberini. It depicts the Triumph of Divina Providentia - Apotheosis of the House of Barberini and the Papacy of Urban VIII.

It was the decision of Pope Urban VIII to assign the task of painting the Salone to Pietro da Cortona, who was formally commissioned by Francesco Barberini, the nephew of Urban VIII. The allegorization of the pope and his reign is the dominant idea in the painting of the Salone, the large hall that forms the public centre of the palace. The divinely ordained rule of Urban VIII and the apotheosis of his Tuscan family whose roots could be traced back to antiquity, are cleverly incorporated into a timeless and universal perspective by Pietro da Cortona.

The ceiling vault depicts the Triumph of Divina Providentia - Apotheosis of the House of Barberini and the Papacy of Urban VIII. To study the four compartments of the vault with their teeming figures it is necessary, after beginning with the centre, to change one’s position four times. The best view of the centre of the ceiling is from the oval vestibule that served as an entryway. From there the triumphant personification of Divina Providentia appears to crown a pyramidal structure. The four frieze-like panels of the side walls present a compositional unity for the pictorial program.

The Palazzo Barberini, residence of the papal family Barberini, set a new standard for Roman palace architecture and its painted decoration. It can be stated that Cortona’s ceiling is the key work in Baroque ceiling painting.

The picture shows the painting on the ceiling vault of the Salone in the Palazzo Barberini. It depicts the Triumph of Divina Providentia - Apotheosis of the House of Barberini and the Papacy of Urban VIII.

In 1625 the Barberini family purchased the Palazzo Sforza and other properties in the area which was to be incorporated to the Barberini palace we see today in Rome. Upon the death of Carlo Maderno, the first architect of the project, Gian Lorenzo Bernini succeeded as chief architect in 1629. Bernini’s is the conception of the high central “salone’, which extends through two stories of the palace. The salone culminates in the great vault on which Piero da Cortona frescoed his Divine Providence, a pictorial celebration of the spiritual and temporal glories of the Barberini. Cortona also had a hand in the building of the palace complex: the largest of his contributions was the design of the theater wing, demolished in 1926 with the opening of the modern Via Barberini.

The picture shows a detail of the painting on the ceiling vault of the Salone in the Palazzo Barberini. The ceiling depicts the Triumph of Divina Providentia - Apotheosis of the House of Barberini and the Papacy of Urban VIII.

This ceiling in the reception room at Palazzo Barberini (which now houses the Galleria Nazionale d’Arte Antica) was the most important single work that helped to make the Baroque the dominant style in Rome, and so over much of Europe, during the seventeenth century.

The orderly clarity of Annibale Carracci’s frescos in Palazzo Farnese was replaced by a turbulent composition that was full of spiraling movement. Everything combines to underline the vibrant dynamism of the work. The large scudding clouds and the perspective viewpoints looking up from below were probably inspired by Correggio’s examples. But the brand new ingredient was Pietro da Cortona’s desire to turn the fresco into a total work of art. The spectator was intended to lose his perception of space when he looked at it and become caught up in a spiritual and esthetic ecstasy. Another hallmark of Baroque was the happy way it mixed different subjects. In this scene, officially on a religious theme, the triumphs of the Barberini dynasty are nearly as apparent as those of Divine Providence as can be seen from the way their heraldic device of flying bees dominates the scene.

The detail shows the three theological virtues Faith, Hope, and Love shaping a laurel wreath around the Barberini bees crowned by Religio with the keys and Roma with the papal tiara.

The long sides of the ceiling fresco depict Allegories of the Political and Spiritual Authority of the Papacy. The present detail shows Autorità Pontifica flanked by Prudence and Glory. On the left are Vulcan and the Cyclops.

The long sides of the ceiling fresco depict Allegories of the Political and Spiritual Authority of the Papacy. The present detail shows Sapientia Humana, assisted by Chastity, Piety, and Divine Love, triumphs over Earthly Love.

The short sides (the ends) of the ceiling fresco depict Allegories of the Blessings and Rigours of Papal Rule. The present detail shows Minerva Battling the Giants.

The short sides (the ends) of the ceiling fresco depict Allegories of the Blessings and Rigours of Papal Rule. The present detail shows Hercules as the Virtuous Hero Subdues the Harpies.

The picture shows one of the corners of the vault. In the monochrom octagon classical “exempla virtutis” is depicted.

The picture shows one of the corners of the vault. In the monochrom octagon classical “exempla virtutis” is depicted.

The picture shows the overall design for the ceiling of the Salone in Palazzo Barberini, Rome. This is one of the few surviving preliminary drawings for the great ceiling fresco. It is assumed that there must have been a comprehensive design in the form of a bozzetto.

The church Santi Luca e Martina is situated between the Roman Forum and the Forum of Caesar in Rome. From 1577 it belonged to the Accademia di San Luca, the academy of painters, sculptors and architects in Rome. In 1635 Cardinal Francesco Barberini, protector of the church, ordered the rebuilding of the church from Pietro da Cortona’s plan. In 1644 the building was completed and the interior was finished in 1650.

While the other sides look like the cut edges of a prism and give only a rough indication of the interior space, the entrance fa�ade seems to be shaped exactly like the interior, curving parallel to the apse behind it.

The picture shows the main fa�ade of the church.

View the section and ground plan of Santi Luca e Martina, Rome.

The church Santi Luca e Martina is situated between the Roman Forum and the Forum of Caesar in Rome. From 1577 it belonged to the Accademia di San Luca, the academy of painters, sculptors and architects in Rome. In 1635 Cardinal Francesco Barberini, protector of the church, ordered the rebuilding of the church from Pietro da Cortona’s plan. In 1644 the building was completed and the interior was finished in 1650.

The picture shows a view across the Forum.

The church Santi Luca e Martina is situated between the Roman Forum and the Forum of Caesar in Rome. The photo shows the church with the Arch of Septimius Severus.

The photo shows the dome.

The photo shows the dome.

Cortona had more opportunity to work as an architect under Pope Alexander VII, and in his fa�ade for the 15th-century church of Santa Maria della Pace, and the replanning of its piazza, he realized one of the most impressive works of the Roman Baroque. This project ingeniously incorporates ideas analogous to his theatre-like designs.

In the lower storey of the fa�ade, the central part of the church projects far forward into the piazza with a semicircular portico having paired columns, while the set-back upper storey has a slightly convex wall, strikingly fashioned in the manner of Santi Luca e Martina but here crowned with a large triangular pediment enclosing a segmental one. Free-standing columns at the corners of the fa�ade define the walls of the nave, the first bay of which also projects into the piazza. Lateral extensions of the fa�ade begin at the second nave bay, extending straight out at the lower level but connected to the adjoining buildings with concave wings at the upper level. These wings conceal the choir of the adjacent Santa Maria dell’Anima on the right-hand side, the window of which provided the model for the other windows of the upper storey of the fa�ade.

The patron, Alexander VII, had the piazza in front of the church enlarged to a regular trapezoidal area to permit him to arrive in his carriage in front of the church, which contained his redesigned family chapel, the Chigi Chapel. Uniform fa�ades were also added to the adjoining buildings, with the surrounding streets approached through doorways like stage openings. Cortona’s church fa�ade and piazza thus form an extremely successful unity, which contained many highly influential ideas.

In 1656 Cortona was commissioned to renovate the fa�ade of the Quattrocento church of Santa Maria della Pace and to construct a square in front of it. The broad sweep of this fa�ade contrasts with the convex curve of the porch with piers which occupies the entire breadth of the original church fa�ade. Here Bramante’s Tempietto is combined with Palladio’s stage from the Teatro Olimpico in Vicenza. The separation of the fa�ade from the church structure is impressive, and the design of this format was new for its time. The fa�ade was no longer a boundary, it now became an independent plastic entity designed specifically for its context.

The picture shows the fa�ade of the church.

In 1656 Cortona was commissioned to renovate the fa�ade of the Quattrocento church of Santa Maria della Pace and to construct a square in front of it. The broad sweep of this fa�ade contrasts with the convex curve of the porch with piers which occupies the entire breadth of the original church fa�ade. Here Bramante’s Tempietto is combined with Palladio’s stage from the Teatro Olimpico in Vicenza. The separation of the fa�ade from the church structure is impressive, and the design of this format was new for its time. The fa�ade was no longer a boundary, it now became an independent plastic entity designed specifically for its context.

The picture shows the fa�ade of the church.

View the ground plan of the piazza in front of Santa Maria della Pace, Rome.

It was Pietro da Cortona’s task to provide a fa�ade for an existing building with his design for the church of Santa Maria in Via Lata (now Via del Corso). In his design, Cortona retained the classical idiom of the fa�ade of Santa Maria della Pace. He planned two complete storeys, but the central area remained open. He used massive structures to flank the portico on the ground floor and the loggia above it. This structure is surmounted by an oversized tympanum.

The picture shows the fa�ade of the church.

It was Pietro da Cortona’s task to provide a fa�ade for an existing building with his design for the church of Santa Maria in Via Lata (now Via del Corso). In his design, Cortona retained the classical idiom of the fa�ade of Santa Maria della Pace. He planned two complete storeys, but the central area remained open. He used massive structures to flank the portico on the ground floor and the loggia above it. This structure is surmounted by an oversized tympanum.

The picture shows the fa�ade of the church. At left, part of the Palazzo Doria (built by Gabriele Valvassori) can be seen.

In Rome it was customary to decorate church choirs on high church holidays with temporary decorations constructed of coloured papier mâch� or canvas. The most famous of these are the ones created by Pietro da Cortona for the forty-hour prayer in Rome’s San Lorenzo in Damaso during Holy Week in 1633. Drawings and engravings of these temporary “sacred sets” are the earliest evidence of the increasing tendency in the seventeenth century to transform church spaces into stages for heavenly apparitions and visions.

The picture shows the vault of the Galleria Mattei painted by Pietro da Cortona with a cycle of “quadri finti” narrating the story of King Solomon and framed with rich fictive stucco decoration by Pietro Paolo Bonzi.

A narrative scene painted on a wall as a framed picture was referred to as a “quadro riportato,” which to seventeenth-century thinking suggested that a framed panel painting had been translated into the medium of fresco. If a picture with the perspective of a panel painting is shifted to the ceiling, it is called a “quadro finto” (fictitious picture). In such a case the painted architectural framing is replaced by a painted or three-dimensional picture frame.

Cortona’s major late architectural work is the dome of San Carlo al Corso, the Milanese national church in Rome. Its drum shows a brilliant version of the motif of screening columns. Structurally, the buttresses faced with pilasters and adjoining columns form a unit, but aesthetically the rhythm of the buttresses predominates and seems accompanied by that of the open, screened bays.

The photo shows the a view from the top of the Spanish Steps. In the foreground is the dome of San Carlo al Corso, while in the background the dome of St. Peter’s can be seen.

This small painting of the Madonna by the great fresco artist and architect Cortona, founder of Roman High Baroque, may be regarded as the very epitome of a Baroque devotional picture. It shows the Holy Family resting on the flight to Egypt. Joseph is approaching in the background, while in the foreground an angel is offering fruit to refresh the child.

Yet the expression “devotional picture” should be used with caution, for the question of specific types in this genre is still the subject of lively debate and much research remains to be conducted into the eras after the Middle Ages.

Nevertheless, even at first glance, it is clear that the intimacy of Cortona’s Madonna painting has more than just an aesthetic intention; it is meant to influence the mood of the spectator in a manner conducive to private prayer. The question of the devotional picture is somewhat complicated by Cortona’s use of elements taken from the pagan vocabulary of early Roman Baroque - the idyllic, the pastoral, the antique bucolic landscape with its shady trees and wild wine - in keeping with the increasingly aesthetic interests of clients and buyers. Cortona’s powers of synthesis are evident in the way he applies them successfully to create an ecclesiastical image of great atmosphere.

The church Santi Luca e Martina is situated between the Roman Forum and the Forum of Caesar in Rome. From 1577 it belonged to the Accademia di San Luca, the academy of painters, sculptors and architects in Rome. In 1635 Cardinal Francesco Barberini, protector of the church, ordered the rebuilding of the church from Pietro da Cortona’s plan. In 1644 the building was completed and the interior was finished in 1650.

Cortona chose a Greek-cross design with apsidal endings. The longitudinal axis is slightly longer than the transverse axis. It is characteristic that at this period Cortona rejected the use of colour, the church is entirely white. By contrast to the severe forms of the architecture below, the vaultings of the apses above the entablature are copiously decorated.

The photo shows the view of the nave towards the main altar.

View the section and ground plan of Santi Luca e Martina, Rome.

The church Santi Luca e Martina is situated between the Roman Forum and the Forum of Caesar in Rome. From 1577 it belonged to the Accademia di San Luca, the academy of painters, sculptors and architects in Rome. In 1635 Cardinal Francesco Barberini, protector of the church, ordered the rebuilding of the church from Pietro da Cortona’s plan. In 1644 the building was completed and the interior was finished in 1650.

Cortona chose a Greek-cross design with apsidal endings. The longitudinal axis is slightly longer than the transverse axis. It is characteristic that at this period Cortona rejected the use of colour, the church is entirely white. By contrast to the severe forms of the architecture below, the vaultings of the apses above the entablature are copiously decorated.

The photo shows the apse.

View the section and ground plan of Santi Luca e Martina, Rome.

The church Santi Luca e Martina is situated between the Roman Forum and the Forum of Caesar in Rome. From 1577 it belonged to the Accademia di San Luca, the academy of painters, sculptors and architects in Rome. In 1635 Cardinal Francesco Barberini, protector of the church, ordered the rebuilding of the church from Pietro da Cortona’s plan. In 1644 the building was completed and the interior was finished in 1650.

Cortona chose a Greek-cross design with apsidal endings. The longitudinal axis is slightly longer than the transverse axis. It is characteristic that at this period Cortona rejected the use of colour, the church is entirely white. By contrast to the severe forms of the architecture below, the vaultings of the apses above the entablature are copiously decorated.

The photo shows the view of the dome. The stucco design is by Cirro Ferri.

The current building was built on the foundations of the pre-existing church of Sant’Andrea de Aquarizariis in 1482, commissioned by Pope Sixtus IV. The author of the original design is not known. In 1656-67 Pope Alexander VII had the edifice restored by Pietro da Cortona, who also added the famous Baroque fa�ade. The interior has a short nave with cruciform vaulting and a tribune surmounted by a cupola. Cortona articulated the interior of the dome with octagonal coffering and a series of ribs radiating from the lantern.

The photo shows the view of the nave towards the high altar.

The design of the interior of the portico is proof of Cortona’s Tuscan origin. With its coffered barrel vault carried by two rows of columns, one of which screens the wall of the church, it clearly reveals its derivation from the vestibule of the sacristy in Santo Spirito at Florence.

The photo shows the portico of the church.

The picture shows one of the lunettes in the Sala di Venere depicting famous exempla from antiquity that illustrate the successes to be gained through virtue and self-denial. It depicts Augustus.

The picture shows one of the lunettes in the Sala di Venere depicting famous exempla from antiquity that illustrate the successes to be gained through virtue and self-denial. It depicts Antiochus.

Pietro da Cortona’s oeuvre contains splendid examples of rich altarpieces which are a triumph of his proud and exultant style. Some also provide memorable examples of Baroque taste. This painting was commissioned by the Passerini family for the church of S. Agostino in the painter’s home town. In a civilized fashion, it trumpets the fact that some of the Passerini family were members of chivalrous orders. So we see the Knights of St Stephen (notice the cross on the cope of the pope, St Stephen), the Knights of Malta (represented by the figure of John the Baptist and the cloak in the centre) and the Order of Calatrava (St James the Great can be seen behind John the Baptist). Even in this quiet scene, there is an air of great energy and vigour, almost as if the saints were about to burst into song. The colours are also marvelously fresh and vivid.

Pietro da Cortona depicts his patron, the cultured Marcello Sacchetti, in a spontaneous pose in front of a gilded table bearing his coat of arms.

This early painting was rediscovered almost by chance in 1983. It had been inexplicably lost for over three and a half centuries in the painter’s home town and provides remarkable proof of Pietro da Cortona’s early and versatile talent. It also reveals his Tuscan heritage as well as his taste for embellishing his paintings with billowing drapes and glimpses of landscape.

According to Le Vau’s plans, the foundations for the immense eastern fa�ade of the Louvre, centred on an oval pavilion, were begun in 1662. But works came to a halt when Colbert was named Superintendent of Royal Buildings in 1663.

Colbert commissioned new plans from French architects and their Italian counterparts. This produced an amazing quantity of proposals. Mansart produced several proposals, all focusing on a grand oval entrance crowned by a dome. There were proposals also from Charles Le Brun and L�onor Houdin. Of the Italians who sent plans, Pietro da Cortona proposed a kind of temple, Rainaldi a large avant-corps with bulbous dome.

In the spring of 1665 Louis XIV invited Bernini to come to Paris and suggest on the spot how to complete the great Louvre ‘carr�’ of which the west and south wings and half of the north wing were standing. Although Bernini worked on the whole area of the ‘carr�’, the focus of his design was the east fa�ade. However, his proposals were not accepted.

The picture shows Pietro da Cortona’s proposal. View also Bernini’s project, and Le Brun’s proposal.

The twin brothers Romulus and Remus are the legendary founders of Rome. Their mother, a Vestal Virgin, explained her pregnancy by claiming she had been violated by Mars, the god of war. She was thrown into prison and the children were ordered to be drowned in the Tiber. They survived and were reared by a she-wolf, and by a woodpecker that watched over them and brought them food. They were discovered by Faustulus, the herdsman.

This drawing shows one of the last stages of the artist’s preparation for the large fresco cycle in the Palazzo Pitti’s Stanza della Stufa. It would merely show the proportions and placement of figures and other elements that would be more thoroughly drafted on other sheets. This composition displays the airy weightlessness of the final work.

Pietro da Cortona created a figure that is both monumental and borne aloft upon horizontal draperies. In the final fresco, in Palazzo Pitti’s Stanza della Stufa, the artist evidently corrected for the height of the fresco, since the foreshortening is more marked in the drawing.

The four scenes of the Age of Gold, Silver, Bronze and Iron painted by Pietro da Cortona for the Medici in 1637 and 1641 in the Stanza della Stufa in the Pitti Palace, together form the first great masterpiece of Baroque painting. Numerous drawings by Pietro for the frescoes and plasterwork in Pitti Palace exist including this sketch.

Ferdinando II de’ Medici, not satisfied with the appearance of the Medici royal palace after it had been enlarged, asked Pietro da Cortona for a plan to renew the whole fa�ade of the Palazzo Pitti.

The picture shows one of the scenes in the Stanza della Stufa. The Stanza della Stufa is a smaller room on the piano nobile that was one of the grand duke’s private chambers. It took its name from its heated floor (“stufa” means heater). Cortona painted here the Age of Gold and the Age of Silver on the north wall in 1637. The Age of Bronze and Age of Iron were realized only later in 1641. The iconographic concept is based on Ovid’s Metamorphoses.

Pietro da Cortona was the Baroque artist ‘par excellence’ in Rome. His light colouring and the joy of life make one think of Rubens in such works as the Golden Age in the Stanza della Stufa of Palazzo Pitti, Florence.

This illustration to Ovid’s vision of a pure and innocent classical paradise alludes to the era of Ferdinando II’s rule and to the union of his House of Medici with that of the Della Rovere family, which occurred the same year this fresco was commissioned and executed.

The picture shows one of the scenes in the Stanza della Stufa. The Stanza della Stufa is a smaller room on the piano nobile that was one of the grand duke’s private chambers. It took its name from its heated floor (“stufa” means heater). Cortona painted here the Age of Gold and the Age of Silver on the north wall in 1637. The Age of Bronze and Age of Iron were realized only later in 1641. The iconographic concept is based on Ovid’s Metamorphoses.

This painting was commissioned by Pope Urban VIII.

The picture was kept in the museum at Viterbo with an attribution to Romanelli until the Second World War. Documentable as an autograph work of Cortona’s, the painting was commissioned directly from the painter by Pope Alexander VII in 1656, along with a pendant of St Michael the Archangel. The painter presented the two pendant pictures to Alexander VII when the pope named him to a papal knighthood. The pope returned the favour by presenting Cortona with a gold chain.

The work has had a good critical fortune, and was copied by both Gaulli and Maratta. A drawing of the subject by the former is conserved in Berlin, while a print is also known to have been cut after the painting. An autograph drawing by Cortona, a study for this work, survives in the Royal Library at Windsor.

According to Ovid, as punishment for a murder he had committed, Hercules was bound to serve Queen Omphale for a year, wearing women’s clothes and doing women’s work. The picture shows the moment when Hercules is disarmed. The depiction of Hercules shows the effects of Pietro’s studies of ancient sculptures in Rome.

The Sacchetti family commissioned this painting in the 1620s when Pietro da Cortona was just making his name in Roman circles. They thus became his first patrons and introduced him to the world of aristocratic commissions. During the first two decades of the century, Caravaggio’s naturalistic style had been rivaled by the Carracci cousins’ academic style of classicism. Each school had its own followers and some attempts had been made to bring the two together. The arrival of Pietro da Cortona, at the same time as Bernini erupted onto the scene as the preferred sculptor and architect of the Barberini pope Urban VIII, were together sufficient to transform art in Rome and to create a true Baroque style.

Pietro da Cortona’s painting stands out for its open theatricality, lively gestures, richness of colour, and brushwork, as well as its diffused light. The Sabine women being lifted into the air deliberately derive from Bernini’s works, such as Apollo and Daphne, as if to underline the bond between the two artists. There is little real violence in his treatment of this scene from Roman legend, merely a splendidly theatrical display of half-clothed bodies.

The painting was executed for the church San Ambrogio della Massima in Rome.

Pietro da Cortona’s Trinity in Glory in the cupola of Santa Maria in Valicella, with its Trinity ringed by concentric choirs of angels and saints, is indebted to Giovanni Lanfranco whose cupola decoration in Sant’Andrea della Valle in Rome set the style and type for seventeenth-century cupola frescoes in Italy.

The picture shows the vault of the so-called Gallerietta in the north wing of the Palazzo Barberini.

The first commission for the painted decor in the Palazzo Barberini was given to Andrea Sacchi who in 1629-30 painted the ceiling of the largest room in the wing occupied by Anna Colonna, Taddeo Barberini’s wife. Sacchi painted here the fresco identified as Triumph of Divina Sapientia (divine wisdom). Then in 1631 Pietro da Cortona’s coworkers, Giovanni Francesco Romanelli, Giacinto Gimignani, and Pietro Paolo Baldini painted the adjacent chapel, which was consecrated to the crucified Christ (Cappella del Crocifisso). Once the chapel was completed in 1632, the next space to be painted was the so-called Gallerietta on the north side, whose end walls present the painted coats of arms of Taddeo and Francesco Barberini. Cortona furnished the designs for the mainly decorative painting with painted stucco, but left most of the execution of them to his workshop.

The goddess Venus, the mother of Aeneas, appeared him twice, first in the midst of burning Troy to bid him be on his way. Later, when the Trojans were washed ashore near Carthage after the storm at sea, Aeneas and his friend Achates set out to explore. Venus appeared once more, this time with bow and quiver disguised as a huntress, to direct them to Dido’s palace.

The artist depicted in this picture the second appearance.

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The Palazzo Barberini, residence of the papal family Barberini, set a new standard for Roman palace architecture and its painted decoration. Planning for the expansion of the sixteenth-century structure was first undertaken by Carlo Maderno, then transferred after his death to Gian Lorenzo Bernini, who here distinguished himself as an architect for the first time.

The first commission for the painted decor was given to Andrea Sacchi who in 1629-30 painted the ceiling of the largest room in the wing occupied by Anna Colonna, Taddeo Barberini’s wife. Sacchi painted here the fresco identified as Triumph of Divina Sapientia (divine wisdom). Then in 1631 Pietro da Cortona’s coworkers, Giovanni Francesco Romanelli, Giacinto Gimignani, and Pietro Paolo Baldini painted the adjacent chapel, which was consecrated to the crucified Christ (Cappella del Crocifisso). That patronage explains the chapel’s christological program and Pietro da Cortona’s altar fresco of the Crucifixion.

Pope Innocent X (from the rich Pamphilj family) decided to erect the family palace at the Piazza Navona in Rome. It was built by Girolamo Rainaldi in Baroque style. The Galleria in the palace was decorated by Pietro da Cortona. The subjects of the ceiling frescoes are related to the story of Aeneas, a Trojan prince who escaped by sea with a band of companions after the sack of Troy by the Greeks. After many adventures they reached Latium in Italy where they settled. They were the legendary ancestors of the Roman people.

During the period of the Medici court, the room named after Apollo was used as antechamber for the “ordinary nobility”, meaning it was used by gentlemen who were waiting to be received by the Grand Duke inside the Throne Room. The designs for the decorations are by Pietro da Cortona, who painted the main fresco in the centre of the vault, depicting the Medici Prince brought before Apollo by Fame. The fresco was painted not long before the artist left Florence to return to Rome in 1647 and Ciro Ferri, a loyal pupil of Cortona, completed the decorations in the room, fifteen years later (1659-1661), after being appointed to do so by the Grand Duke. His are the frescos in the lunettes and the superb stucco cornice - a model that was then copied throughout Europe, based on the designs and cartoons left by his teacher.

During the period of the Medici court, the room named after Apollo was used as antechamber for the “ordinary nobility”, meaning it was used by gentlemen who were waiting to be received by the Grand Duke inside the Throne Room. The designs for the decorations are by Pietro da Cortona, who painted the main fresco in the centre of the vault, depicting the Medici Prince brought before Apollo by Fame. The fresco was painted not long before the artist left Florence to return to Rome in 1647 and Ciro Ferri, a loyal pupil of Cortona, completed the decorations in the room, fifteen years later (1659-1661), after being appointed to do so by the Grand Duke. His are the frescos in the lunettes and the superb stucco cornice - a model that was then copied throughout Europe, based on the designs and cartoons left by his teacher.

The Sala di Giove (Hall of Jupiter) is one of the most magnificent of all rooms in the Palazzo Pitti. In the Medici period, this room was used as an Audience Chamber or Throne Room. The richly decorated area is full of frescoes, white and gilt stucco works and plumes decorated with shells. It enhances the public role of this area and represents the crowing artistic achievement of Pietro da Cortona, who has dotted it with extraordinarily detailed inventions. The finished work is the result of his direction, starting with the many preparatory designs - many of which are preserved in the Collection of Prints and Drawings at the Uffizi Galleries - through to the direct coordination of the workers on scaffolding: painters, gilders, masons and stucco artists.

The theme chosen here, Jupiter crowning the prince, to whom Hercules has consigned his club, highlights the commanding role of the Medici dynasty and legitimises the young heir’s ascent to Grand Duke, completing the educational journey shown in the previous rooms, and evoked in the frescoed lunettes that show the many gods of Olympus - Minerva, Apollo, Mercury, and Mars - who accompanied and supported him in this ideal education, from adolescence to old age. The victorious prince thus disembarks from the ship of the Argonauts, followed by Victory, who is engraving the letter M (Medici) on her shield; he is met by Jupiter, surrounded by four female characters, probably allegorical depictions, and a tribute by the iconographer to the Medicea Sidera, the four satellites of the planet Jupiter, discovered by Galileo Galilei and announced in his Sidereus Nuncius, dedicated to Cosimo II de’ Medici in 1610.

The Sala di Giove (Hall of Jupiter) is one of the most magnificent of all rooms in the Palazzo Pitti. It was designed for Ferdinando II de’ Medici as a Throne Room. The frescoed ceiling by Pietro da Cortona echoes this theme by portraying Jupiter about to crown the young prince.

The Sala di Marte (Hall of Mars), a totally Baroque room, boasts the soaring frescoed ceiling by Pietro da Cortona. On the red-draped walls hang some of the most important Baroque paintings of the Palatine gallery.

Pietro da Cortona designed the frescoes and stuccoes in this opulent room of the Palazzo Pitti. The work was carried out by Cortona’s pupil, Ciro Ferri. This regal room houses several of the Pitti’s masterpieces by Raphael.

The Sala di Venere (Hall of Venus) in the Palazzo Pitti was named after the ceiling decoration by Pietro da Cortona. It was the first in a series based on planetary deities that the artist undertook for Grand Duke Ferdinando II. The room comprises a large fresco as well as eight lunettes along the walls, framed by gilt stucco figures. Between them, white stucco reliefs show portraits of various members of the Medici family.

The picture shows a view of the Stanza della Stufa with the Age of Iron (left) and the Age of Gold and Age of Silver (right).

Of the numerous apartments in the Palazzo Pitti, two suites of rooms stand out because of their decoration, function and size. These took their present form under Grand Duke Ferdinando II de’ Medici (1610-1670), and for the most part they were spared later encroachments owing to their high-quality frescoes. These are the reception rooms in the left (north) wing used by Ferdinando II. The rooms on the cooler ground floor, directly connected with the Boboli Gardens by way of a loggia and a terrace, served him as a summer apartment (Appartamento d’Estate); his winter quarters (Appartamento d’Inverno), reached by way of a large staircase and capable of being heated, lie directly above these on the piano nobile.

In the winter quarters Pietro da Cortona decorated the Stanza della Stufa, and the Rooms of the Planets (Sala di Venere; Sala di Giove; Sala di Marte; Sala di Apollo) between 1637 and 1661.

The Stanza della Stufa is a smaller room on the piano nobile that was one of the grand duke’s private chambers. It took its name from its heated floor (“stufa” means heater). Cortona painted here the Age of Gold and the Age of Silver on the north wall in 1637. The Age of Bronze and Age of Iron were realized only later in 1641. The iconographic concept is based on Ovid’s Metamorphoses.

The Stanza della Stufa (Stove Room), originally an open gallery, was later closed off in the seventeenth century and restructured as a bathroom heated using the same techniques as the Roman baths and intended for private use by the Grand Duke, whose bedroom would have been located next door. The decoration was commissioned by Grand Duke Ferdinand II de’ Medici, who initially employed various Florentine masters including Matteo Rosselli, Michelangelo Cinganelli and Ottavio Vannini to decorate the vaults and lunettes with images of the great kings of antiquity and allegorical figures. In 1637, Pietro da Cortona was then entrusted to decorate the walls with a depiction of the Four Ages of Man, a theme inspired by Ovid and most likely proposed by Michelangelo Buonarroti the Younger: the Golden Age and Silver Age diptych was painted in 1637, followed by the scenes of the Bronze Age and Iron Age in 1641. These frescoes painted by Pietro da Cortona were the birth of the great Baroque murals and marked the arrival of a new style in Florence, introducing a lighter lexicon and narrative inspired by the Venetian paintings of Paolo Veronese and the Roman frescoes of Annibale Carracci.

The imaginary Arcadia of the Golden Age painting, where farmers, children and animals coexist in harmony, evokes the peaceful and happy rule of Grand Duke Ferdinando, whose reign further flourished following his marriage to Vittoria della Rovere in 1637, a joyous event alluded to by the painter in his portrayal of a young couple courting below the majestic oak, the heraldic emblem of the Rovere family, and the heraldic Marzocco lion, symbol of Florence and the Medici house. The Bronze and Iron Age paintings are more agitated and Rubenesque in nature, painted some years apart and which contrast images of a civilized society with the violent events of war, another example of an erudite iconographic technique.

In 1637, on his way from Rome to Bologna, Pietro da Cortona sojourned for some time in Florence to paint the decorations in the Sala della Stufa (Room of Stove) in the Palazzo Pitti on behest of Grand Duke Ferdinando II. The four walls of the room , which took its name from the heating pipes it once housed for the nearby bedrooms, are painted with scenes of the Four Ages, a subject taken from Ovid’s Metamorphoses. The ensemble, planned as a whole but executed during two separate working phases in 1637 and 1641, represents one of the artist’s true masterpieces. The ceiling and lunette frescoes belong to a previous campaign by different artists.

The modernization of Santa Maria della Pace by Pietro da Cortona was carried out in 1656-57. The new fa�ade, placed in front of the Quattrocento church, together with the systematisation of the small piazza is of much greater importance than the changes in the interior. Although regularly laid-out piazzas had a long tradition in Italy, Cortona’s design inaugurates 20a new departure, for he applied the experience of the theatre to town-planning: the church appears like the stage, the piazza like the auditorium, and the flanking houses like the boxes. It is the logical corollary of such conception that the approaches from the side of the church are through a kind of stage doors, which hide the roads for the view from the piazza.

The etching of 1756 by Giuseppe Vasi (1710-1782) shows the piazza in front of Santa Maria della Pace, Rome.

View the ground plan of the piazza.

This painting, representing the Virgin and Child with Sts John the Baptist, Felice da Cantalice, Andrew, and Catherine, comes from the Capuchin church at Amandola.

This work depicts a dream of St Filippo Neri in which the Virgin appeared to him, commanding that he shore up the roof of the chapel housing a devotional image of her venerated by the Oratorians. Warned by his dream, the next day Neri had the rotting wood roof removed, thereby preventing its collapse as shown here. Dominating the composition is the towering architecture, seen from an extremely low angle, which functions as both framing and setting.

From this point on, dramatic action taking place in earthly settings became admissible subject matter for ceiling pictures in churches even in Rome.

The picture shows one of the two wall paintings in the Sala di Apollo depicting Ancient Rulers Who Devoted Themselves to Learning. The present picture represents Theodosius.

The picture shows one of the two wall paintings in the Sala di Apollo depicting Ancient Rulers Who Devoted Themselves to Learning. The present picture represents Alexander.