Study for the Allegory of Religion

Pietro da Cortona (Pietro Berrettini)

1629–39 · Red chalk, glued onto a light cardboard mount. · Drawings and Prints

The traditional attribution of this very lively drawing to the Baroque master, Pietro da Cortona, was endorsed by Jacob Bean in his catalogue of The Met's seventeenth century Italian drawings (1979). The subject was recognized by Bruce Davis (1983) as a study for the Allegory of Religion frescoed between 1629 and 1639 by the artist on the vault of the main hall of the Palazzo Barberini in Rome. This identification was upheld by Simonetta Prosperi Valenti Rodinò (1997). On the Barberini ceiling, Religion is placed right below the personification of Rome, on the upper left section of the decoration. In the fresco painting, she holds a monumental, ornate, gold key. Cortona often used red chalk to draw figural studies after living models.

Artist

Pietro da Cortona (Pietro Berrettini)

Date

1629–39

Medium

Red chalk, glued onto a light cardboard mount.

Department

Drawings and Prints

Credit line

Rogers Fund, 1964