Personification of Religion , ca. 1586 – 1587

About the Work

It was Giuseppe Cesari himself who supplemented his name with a reference to his hometown Arpino. He had come to Rome at a young age and would work there for the rest of his life. The female figure holding up a building with a triumphant gesture is a symbolic depiction of religion. This we know from the inscription the artist made on its base (and later struck through). The dynamically composed personification may have served as a preliminary study for a fresco in the Lateran Palace.