Allegory of Faith
by TINTORETTO, Oil on canvas, 90 x 190 cm
The sixteen allegorical figures around the central painting on the ceiling of the Sala dell’Albergo are portrayed in forced and artificial poses and attitudes of truly Mannerist origin. They were particularly studied by Tintoretto in preliminary drawings. In these allegories, the perspective-illusionistic effect presents the figures in formal solutions of flowing complexity.
The bent knee pose of Faith, easily recognizable by the chalice held in her left hand, greatly recalls Patience by Giorgio Vasari, already part of a ceiling in Palazzo Corner-Spinelli in Venice.