|
The picture shows one of the scenes in the Stanza della Stufa. This last Age of the series offers a scene rife with violence: two Roman soldiers are profaning a temple and killing a priest while others are slaughtering men and women, young and old, without remorse. Cortona does not, however, depict a completely corrupted, decadent society like the one Ovid had described. He preferred instead to retain a human aspect by presenting a number of innocent people who fall victim to their cruel predators.
The Stanza della Stufa is a smaller room on the piano nobile that was one of the grand duke's private chambers. It took its name from its heated floor ("stufa" means heater). Cortona painted here the Age of Gold and the Age of Silver on the north wall in 1637. The Age of Bronze and Age of Iron were realized only later in 1641. The iconographic concept is based on Ovid's Metamorphoses.
| 
