Allegory of Painting

According to the period iconographic convention, the personification of Painting is represented as a graceful young woman, adorned with jewellery, holding a palette and brushes, and with a laurel wreath on her head, as a sign of glory and immortality. Its other attributes include a mask as a symbol of imitating nature (imitatio), and a painting in progress on the easel, revealing an allegorical group of Love (Caritas), which, as the highest of virtues, represents the essence of all artistic creation. The loose hair symbolizes imagination and invention (inventio), referring to the intellectual aspects of painting. Kupezky’s Allegory of Painting and likewise, the exhibit ed Allegory of Sculpture (inv. no. O 2738) by Petr Brandl reflect the emulation among the various fields of art, called paragone (Italian, comparison), whose origins can be found in the Italian art of the Renaissance. Primacy in this dispute was awarded to Pictura, as suggested by the figure’s luxury dress, which identifies it as a higher and “purer” art.