1776
oil
canvas
From the collection of Art Institute of Chicago
Allegory of Peace and War is a 1776 oil by Pompeo Batoni, a Rococo painting work, held at Art Institute of Chicago.
The painting shows a personification of peace restraining the god Mars, who represents war. Peace holds an olive branch, a symbol of peace. The artist's use of soft colors and gentle lines makes the scene feel calm. The painting is interesting because it combines different styles, like Rococo and Neoclassical. This mix of styles was new and innovative for the time. You can learn more about this style by looking into the technique of glazing.
Pompeo Batoni’s grand portraits and numerous religious and historical commissions established him as the leading Roman painter of his day. He painted Peace and War on his own initiative, without a commission, attracting critical praise for the work’s graceful invention. It combines elements of Rococo softness and eroticism with the newly fashionable Neoclassical style. War, represented by the god Mars, is restrained by a personification of peace, who bears an olive branch.
In the artist’s studio from 1776 until at least January of 1781 [for early mentions of the picture including those in letters of Father John Thorpe to Lord Arundel, see Bowron 2016, pp. 518-20]. Probably Comtesse Clotilde Eugénie d’Oultremont (née van den Steen de Jehay, 1850–1932); by descent to her daughter Elisabeth von Furstenberg (née d’Oultremont, died 1953), Brussels; by descent to her son Maximilien, Cardinal von Furstenberg (died 1988), Brussels, Lisbon, and Vatican City; by descent to his nephew Comte Wenemar de Furstenberg, Belgium [see copy of Cardinal von Fürstenberg’s note of…
Houston, Museum of Fine Arts, Pompeo Batoni: Prince of Painters in Eighteenth-century Rome, October 21, 2007-January 27, 2008, cat. 71; National Gallery, London, February 20-May 18, 2008 [Houston only].
Read the full account in the museum source.
Pompeo Girolamo Batoni (25 January 1708 – 4 February 1787) was an Italian painter who displayed a solid technical knowledge in his portrait work and in his numerous allegorical and mythological pictures.
See the richer artist page
