CORTONA, Pietro da
(b. 1596, Cortona, d. 1669, Roma)

The Age of Silver

1637
Fresco
Stanza della Stufa, Palazzo Pitti, Florence

The picture shows one of the scenes in the Stanza della Stufa. 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.