(Padua 1605–1687 Venice)
Allegory of Fortitude and Temperance,
oil on canvas, 98 x 107.4 cm, framed

We are grateful to Ugo Ruggeri for confirming the attribution on the basis of a high resolution digital photograph (written communication).

The present painting, showing a woman with a lion and a putto, can be interpreted as Allegory of Fortitude and Temperance. It portrays stylistic similarities to the painting Virtue Defending Innocence against Vice in Palazzo Algiardi in Bergamo, in which a similar lion is depicted.

Pietro Liberi initially studied under Alessandro Varotari, il Padovanino, in Venice. He travelled to Constantinople, Tunis, and many European countries. In Rome he copied Michelangelo’s and Raphael’s frescoes and also came under the influence of Gianlorenzo Bernini. His early works, such as the Rape of the Sabine Women in Siena, reflect his Roman experience. He received his first official commission in Venice in 1650, when he painted Saint Mary Magdalene at the Foot of the Cross for the church Giovanni e Paolo. He combined Baroque compositions with the bright colours of Paolo Veronese. In 1652 he executed the frescoes in the Villa Negrelli in Stra together with Domenico Bruni. The two central scenes, Allegory of the Liberal Arts and Sciences and Allegory of War and Peace, display the originality of Liberi’s style and are early examples of the artist’s erotic and sensual subjects. Such were highly regarded and requested by contemporary collectors, and are also shown in the present painting.