Architecture, Sculpture and Painting.

Painted in 1741, Architecture, Sculpture and Painting is an allegorical work in which Batoni personifies the three major visual arts as female figures — a traditional conceit with roots in Renaissance paragone debates about the relative merits of the arts. This type of allegory served both as an aesthetic statement and as a form of self-promotion: painters who depicted Painting as a noble personification were implicitly claiming dignity for their own profession. By 1741 Batoni was consolidating his reputation in Rome as both a history painter and portraitist, and this allegorical canvas would have appealed to collectors with humanist interests. The three arts are typically shown in combination to argue for their mutual interdependence or to celebrate a patron's engagement with all branches of visual culture.

Oil on canvas combining Batoni's rigorous anatomical training with the idealized female types drawn from classical sculpture and Roman fresco. The allegorical figures would be differentiated through attributes: a compass and square for Architecture, a chisel for Sculpture, and palette and brushes for Painting. Warm, luminous flesh tones contrast with richly colored drapery.