Exposition : “Valentin de Boulogne. Allegory of Italy”, Helsinki, Sinebrychoff Art Museum, jusqu’au 12 janvier 2025

Allegory of Italy (oil on canvas, 333 x 245 cm) represents the pinnacle of Valentin’s work. It is a representative example from the golden age of Roman Baroque painting. Researchers consider the large-scale painting to be the artist’s main work, along with an altarpiece in the Vatican’s collections. Finnish art collections do not include any similar work from the Italian Baroque period.

The curator of the exhibition is Sinebrychoff Art Museum’s chief curator, PhD Ira Westergård.

The painting was commissioned by Cardinal Francesco Barberini. The work alludes to the achievements of the family and its position at the top of the Rome elite. The family’s position in Rome and Italy culminated in 1623, when Francesco Barberini’s uncle Maffeo Barberini became Pope Urban VIII. In the Barberinis’ new palace, Allegory of Italy was displayed in a place of honour.

An allegory is a metaphor or a metaphorical representation. In the painting, allegorical content is combined with the use of live models and an idiom based on naturalism. The young woman depicted in the work symbolises Italy, the figure in the foreground on the left symbolises the Tiber river in Rome, and the figure in the foreground on the right symbolises the Arno river in Florence. The details of the painting link the work to the Barberini family.

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