This oval ceiling painting was originally the central picture gracing the ceiling of the Sala del Consiglio dei Dieci in the Doge's Palace. In 1797 it was confiscated by the art commissars of Napoleon Bonaparte and removed to Paris. In 1863 Jacopo di Andrea made a copy at the behest of the government, and this now replaces the looted original in Venice.
A principal feature of the picture is the bold use of foreshortened perspectives, of which the ceiling painter was a supreme master. The sculpturally rounded figures stand out dramatically against the blue of the sky.
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