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24 - Allegory of Charity, Fortitude and Hope School of Fontainebl…
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Estimate €1,000 - €2,000
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Description
Allegory of Charity, Fortitude and Hope School of Fontainebleau, late 16th century oil on canvas 29.5 x 41 cm The work depicts three female figures arranged in the foreground within a landscape, accompanied by putti and secondary episodes in the background. The central figure, half-naked and flanked by two children, can be identified with Charity, according to an established iconography associating the virtue with maternal love. The two lateral figures can be interpreted as personifications of Fortitude (Fortitudo) and Hope (Spes): the one on the left, characterised by the presence of a shield with a helmet, alludes to the moral dimension and courage, while the one on the right, a female figure leaning on an anchor, is clearly referable to Hope according to a consolidated iconography.Behind the main figures there is a narrative episode that is difficult to interpret, characterised by moving figures and a female presence in the clouds, which could be interpreted as a mythological reference, perhaps referable to the myth of Niobe and her punishment by the gods. This element, although not identifiable with certainty, introduces a possible additional symbolic level, in which the background scene acts as a moral exemplum.The composition is configured as a juxtaposition of autonomous allegorical figures, according to a Mannerist taste that favours formal elegance, refined poses and a certain iconographic ambiguity. The figures, slender and idealised, recall the language of the Fontainebleau school, characterised by linearity, controlled sensuality and contamination between mythological and moral themes. In this perspective, the relationship between the foreground and background can be read in a symbolic key: the Virtues - Charity, Fortitude and Hope - are positioned as moral principles capable of opposing human errors, evoked by the possible mythological scene of punishment.The painting is a testimony to the spread of the language of the Fontainebleau school in the European context between the late 16th and early 17th century, probably intended for a private use of a decorative and cultured nature, and significant more for its stylistic and cultural value than for a precise individual attribution.
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About the sale Old Masters and 19th Century Paintings and Drawings
Auction location
Auction time 06/12/2026 at 2:00 PM
Pictures credits: Contact the Auction House
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