The Four Allegories is a series of four small panel painting

Panel painting

A panel painting is a painting made on a flat panel made of wood, either a single piece, or a number of pieces joined together. Until canvas became the more popular support medium in the 16th century, it was the normal form of support for a painting not on a wall or vellum, which was used for...

s in the Gallerie dell'Accademia, Venice

Venice

Venice is a city in northern Italy which is renowned for the beauty of its setting, its architecture and its artworks. It is the capital of the Veneto region...

, Italy by the Italian Renaissance master Giovanni Bellini

Giovanni Bellini

Giovanni Bellini was an Italian Renaissance painter, probably the best known of the Bellini family of Venetian painters. His father was Jacopo Bellini, his brother was Gentile Bellini, and his brother-in-law was Andrea Mantegna. He is considered to have revolutionized Venetian painting, moving it...

, whose date has been variously argued as different points in the range 1490-1504. They all measure 34 (Perseverance) or 32 x 22 cm in size.

History

Originally, the four panels probably decorated a small bathroom cabinet in walnut

Walnut

Juglans is a plant genus of the family Juglandaceae, the seeds of which are known as walnuts. They are deciduous trees, 10–40 meters tall , with pinnate leaves 200–900 millimetres long , with 5–25 leaflets; the shoots have chambered pith, a character shared with the wingnuts , but not the hickories...

 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

Holy Allegory (Bellini)

The Holy Allegory is a painting by the Italian Renaissance master Giovanni Bellini, dating from c. 1490 to 1500. It is in the Uffizi gallery in Florence, Italy.-History:...

in the Uffizi

Uffizi

The Uffizi Gallery , is a museum in Florence, Italy. It is one of the oldest and most famous art museums of the Western world.-History:...

, and the Accademia has another such panel by Bellini or possibly Andrea Previtali

Andrea Previtali

Andrea Previtali was an Italian painter of the Renaissance period, active mainly in Bergamo. He was a pupil of the painter Giovanni Bellini...

, an allegory of Fortune (27 x 19 cm) from a different origin.

Perseverance shows a virtuous warrior to whom Bacchus

Bacchus

Bacchus is the Roman name for Dionysus, the god of wine and intoxication.Bacchus can also refer to:* Temple of Bacchus, a Roman temple at a large classical antiquity complex in Baalbek, Lebanon...

 is offering fruit from a wagon pulled by putto

Putto

A putto is a figure of an infant often depicted as a young male. Putti are defined as chubby, winged or wingless, male child figure in nude. Putti are distinct from cherubim, but some English-speakers confuse them with each other, except that in the plural, "the Cherubim" refers to the biblical...

es. It has been described also as an allegory of lust

Lust

Lust is an emotional force that is directly associated with the thinking or fantasizing about one's desire, usually in a sexual way.-Etymology:The word lust is phonetically similar to the ancient Roman lustrum, which literally meant "purification"...

. 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.

Sources

• Nepi Sciré, Giovanna & Valcanover, Francesco, Accademia Galleries of Venice, Electa, Milan, 1985, ISBN 8843519301