TINTORETTO
(b. 1518, Venezia, d. 1594, Venezia)

Allegory of Generosity

c. 1564
Oil on canvas, 90 x 190 cm
Scuola Grande di San Rocco, Venice

The sixteen allegorical figures around the central painting on the ceiling of the Sala dell'Albergo are portrayed in forced and artificial poses and attitudes of truly Mannerist origin. They were particularly studied by Tintoretto in preliminary drawings. In these allegories, the perspective-illusionistic effect presents the figures in formal solutions of flowing complexity.

This female figure is portrayed in flight, her arms open in a gesture of silent adoration and it is here that some have wished to identify the Allegory of Generosity.