TIEPOLO, Giovanni Battista
(b. 1696, Venezia, d. 1770, Madrid)

Marital Harmony

1734
Fresco
Villa Loschi Zileri dal Verme, Biron di Monteviale

In addition to those in the central section of the ceiling of the main hall, four other virtues appear inside stucco frames on the walls of the room: Marital Harmony, Humility Casting Out Pride, Liberality Dispensing Gifts, and Virtue Crowning Honour.

In the Marital Harmony, the beautiful young woman is comfortably seated on a chair, the man is standing, leaning toward her and holding a heart on a chain. The scene seems to come out of an eighteenth-century melodrama, with the official lover of a married woman paying homage to his lady, while a little white dog is cuddled by a winged cupid, a clear symbol of fidelity.