Allegory of time indicating the Truth, Giacomo Stella (Brescia 1545 – Rome 1630)

Giacomo Stella (Brescia 1545 – Rome 1630)
Allegory of time indicating the Truth

Oil painting on canvas

The work is accompanied by a critical study written by prof. Emilio Negro (Bologna)

The beautiful allegorical composition in question, which portrays a proud female figure, was originally conceived to be part of the representative furnishings of a large noble palace, and represents the personification of Time which indicates the Truth (a second interpretation, although less fitting, could be the cardinal virtue of Temperance).

This allegorical typology, with a strong Renaissance flavor due to its underlying meanings of great political as well as moral value, had great success throughout the 16th and 17th centuries, inducing the spectator to lead, on the basis of past events, a life dedicated to discipline, to the Truth precisely.

The allegory is personified by a girl with iridescent red robes, with her index finger raised as a sign of warning; she holds the book of History in her hands, whose temporal consequentiality allows us to have the tools to achieve wisdom, while at her feet we can see an hourglass, the symbol par excellence of the passing of time.

The work, whose execution expresses elegance and power at the same time, can be traced back to Giacomo Stella (Brescia 1545 – Rome 1630), a significant mannerist artist active between the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, originally from Brescia but active especially in Rome, where he moved at a young age, under the pontificates of Gregory XIII (1572-1585) and his successors Sixtus V (1585-1590) and Urban VIII.

In the papal city he came into contact with Girolamo Muziano and Cesare Nebbia, active in many of the major projects of the late 16th century commissioned by the papacy. Among these, the most important is the fresco of one of the major religious works of the time, the construction and decoration of the Sistine Chapel in the Basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore (not to be confused with that of the Vatican), destined to become the funeral chapel for Pope Sixtus V .

A painter of great temperament and gifted with a beautiful naturalistic shot, his single hand was certainly responsible for the great frescoes of the 'Resurrection' and the 'Creation of Eve', at the Scala Santa in Rome.

Conservation status:

Old restorations linked to the era of the canvas and color changes are visible on the painting.

The painting is sold together with a pleasant gilded wooden frame.

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION:

The work is sold accompanied by a certificate of authenticity and descriptive iconographic card.

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