How you can use this image
This image can be used for non-commercial research or private study purposes, and other UK exceptions to copyright permitted to users based in the United Kingdom under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, as amended and revised. Any other type of use will need to be cleared with the rights holder(s).
Review the copyright credit lines that are located underneath the image, as these indicate who manages the copyright (©) within the artwork, and the photographic rights within the image.
The collection that owns the artwork may have more information on their own website about permitted uses and image licensing options.
Review our guidance pages which explain how you can reuse images, how to credit an image and how to find images in the public domain or with a Creative Commons licence available.
Buy a print or image licence
You can purchase this reproduction
If you have any products in your basket we recommend that you complete your purchase from Art UK before you leave our site to avoid losing your purchases.
Notes
Add or edit a note on this artwork that only you can see. You can find notes again by going to the ‘Notes’ section of your account.
This modello, or detailed oil study, is one of a group of 12 that Giordano made in preparation for the ceiling frescoes in the Palazzo Medici Riccardi in 1682--85. Ten of the modelli are in the National Gallery's collection, and this one represents one of the four Cardinal Virtues. First identified by the philosopher Plato, the Virtues were later adopted by the Roman Catholic Church. A different Virtue is depicted in each corner of the ceiling.Fortitude is depicted just left of centre with two of her emblems: a lion and a fallen column. She is being crowned by Honour and, with Constancy standing to the left, she triumphs over the cowering figure of Fear, wearing a deer skin, and Misery, reclining lower right. On the right stands Valour; Victory sits on a globe above him, holding a standard and a pomegranate.
Title
Allegory of Fortitude
Date
early 1680s
Medium
Oil on canvas
Measurements
H 95 x W 99.2 cm
Accession number
NG6632
Acquisition method
Presented by the Trustees of Sir Denis Mahon's Charitable Trust through the Art Fund, 2013
Work type
Painting
-
The Triumph of David Temple Newsam House, Leeds Museums and Galleries -
The Holy Family with Saint Catherine of Alexandria Glasgow Museums Resource Centre (GMRC) -
Samson and Delilah English Heritage, The Wellington Collection, Apsley House -
The Crucifixion The Ashmolean Museum of Art and Archaeology -
Apotheosis of the Medici The National Gallery, London -
Allegory of Fortitude The National Gallery, London -
Minerva as Protectress of the Arts and Sciences The National Gallery, London - 54 more