Hope

Piero del Pollaiuolo's Hope, painted around 1470 and now in the Uffizi, Florence, is part of a series of Virtues painted for the Tribunale della Mercanzia (Merchants' Court) in Florence. The series was originally commissioned from Piero, but Botticelli secured the commission for the Fortitude panel, marking his professional rivalry with the Pollaiuolo workshop. These personified Virtues decorated the seats of the commercial court and represent important civic commissions.

Piero renders the allegorical figure with the precise drawing and volumetric modeling characteristic of the Pollaiuolo workshop, using rich color and careful attention to the decorative throne that frames the personified Virtue.