VERONESE, Paolo
(b. 1528, Verona, d. 1588, Venezia)

Dialectics

1578-82
Oil on canvas, 150 x 220 cm
Palazzo Ducale, Venice

The eight figures of the Virtues can be identified by the attributes that accompany them: a dog for Fidelity, a lamb for Gentleness, an ermine for Purity, a die and a crown for Reward, an eagle for Moderation, a cobweb for Dialectics, a crane for Vigilance and a cornucopia for Prosperity. These sumptuous female figures dressed in silks and brocades, splendid in their precious and limpid decorative effects and wonderfully lustrous and transparent colours, almost cancel out the limits of the restricted space to which they are confined by their lavish gilded frames, for they are set against an architectural background that seems to extend from one panel to another, creating a marvelous unity of space.

This picture shows the Dialectics of "T" shape.