_-_Allegory_of_Fortitude_-_L888_-_National_Gallery.jpg&width=1200)
Allegory of Fortitude
Luca Giordano·1682
Historical Context
Allegory of Fortitude at the National Gallery comes from Giordano's landmark commission for the Palazzo Medici-Riccardi in Florence, executed in 1682. The Medici family's traditional palace, built in the fifteenth century by Michelozzo for Cosimo the Elder, received a spectacular Baroque ceiling program as part of the later Medici's bid to reassert cultural leadership under Cosimo III. Fortitude — one of the four cardinal virtues — was essential in any program celebrating aristocratic moral qualities. The National Gallery holds several component paintings from this cycle, which established Giordano's European reputation and led directly to his Spanish royal appointment a decade later. Contemporary Florentine observers described gathering to watch Giordano work, marveling at the speed with which he completed the enormous ceiling — a speed that earned him his nickname 'Luca fa presto' but never compromised his compositional authority.
Technical Analysis
The personified virtue is rendered with heroic proportions and symbolic attributes. The ceiling perspective creates dynamic foreshortening suited to the upward viewing angle.
Look Closer
- ◆Notice the heroic proportions and symbolic attributes of the personified Fortitude — a shield, a column, or a lion identify the virtue that bears suffering with courage.
- ◆Look at the ceiling perspective creating dynamic foreshortening: this National Gallery work from the 1682 Medici-Riccardi cycle is designed specifically for upward viewing.
- ◆Find the upward compositional movement appropriate to ceiling painting: the figure seems to ascend into or descend from the space above the viewer.
- ◆Observe that the complete Medici-Riccardi cycle demonstrated Giordano's supremacy in ceiling fresco — his ability to organize large-scale aerial compositions with multiple figures brought him commissions from across Europe.
