Woman Holding the Papal Tiara

Pietro da Cortona is best known for his masterpiece of baroque illusionism, the ceiling of the Great Hall of the Palazzo
Barberini, Rome, frescoed between 1632 and 1639. Depicting an Allegory of Divine Providence, the ceiling glorifies the
Barberini family, including Pope Urban VIII. This study is preparatory for the female figure personifying Rome. An expert
exploration of the figure’s foreshortened form, lit from above, it is one of the most beautiful of the studies related to the
commission.