DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.61668#0216
POLLAIUOLO
140
Piero or by his assistants the work itself must be
examined.
The figures are seated on marble thrones of elaborate
architecture, raised on a dais placed on an oriental rug-
There are variations in the details of ornament and
costume, but the general composition is alike in all,
including the arrangement of the draperies. It is
difficult to decide with certainty what were their
respective places on the walls, but as far as may be
judged by the relative sizes and inclination of the
figures, it would seem that the central position was
occupied by the Charity, in her double character of
Chief Virtue and Madonna. Botticelli’s Fortitude
probably formed the pendant to the Prudence, the
Faith to the Temperance, while the Hope and Justice,
strangely enough on a larger scale than the rest, must
certainly have matched each other. It is curious that
while the others are in a state of the utmost dilapida-
tion, the Fortitude and Prudence are comparatively well
preserved. So damaged were the remaining five panels
that at the time of their removal to the Uffizi, they
were considered unfit for exhibition, the colour having
for the most part completely peeled off*.* The greater
part of what we see is thus the work of the restorer,
and the pictures must be judged therefore by com-
position and form, for only in small parts has the
original colour escaped.
The best painted, as well as the best preserved, of
* Cavalcaselle, “ Storia della Pittura in Italia,” Firenze, 1894, VI.
p. 106.
140
Piero or by his assistants the work itself must be
examined.
The figures are seated on marble thrones of elaborate
architecture, raised on a dais placed on an oriental rug-
There are variations in the details of ornament and
costume, but the general composition is alike in all,
including the arrangement of the draperies. It is
difficult to decide with certainty what were their
respective places on the walls, but as far as may be
judged by the relative sizes and inclination of the
figures, it would seem that the central position was
occupied by the Charity, in her double character of
Chief Virtue and Madonna. Botticelli’s Fortitude
probably formed the pendant to the Prudence, the
Faith to the Temperance, while the Hope and Justice,
strangely enough on a larger scale than the rest, must
certainly have matched each other. It is curious that
while the others are in a state of the utmost dilapida-
tion, the Fortitude and Prudence are comparatively well
preserved. So damaged were the remaining five panels
that at the time of their removal to the Uffizi, they
were considered unfit for exhibition, the colour having
for the most part completely peeled off*.* The greater
part of what we see is thus the work of the restorer,
and the pictures must be judged therefore by com-
position and form, for only in small parts has the
original colour escaped.
The best painted, as well as the best preserved, of
* Cavalcaselle, “ Storia della Pittura in Italia,” Firenze, 1894, VI.
p. 106.