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

Ceiling painting

1643-44
Fresco
Palazzo Pitti, Florence

The picture shows the ceiling painting in the Sala di Marte. It depicts The Hero's Victory at Sea and Allegory of Peace.

The Medici coat-of-arms, with its well-known arrangement of spheres in an oval, is prominently displayed at the centre of the ceiling. Next to it is Mars, about to start war with a lightning bolt, and below him scenes of naval and land battles.