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The picture shows the painting on the ceiling vault of the Salone in the Palazzo Barberini. It depicts the Triumph of Divina Providentia - Apotheosis of the House of Barberini and the Papacy of Urban VIII.
It was the decision of Pope Urban VIII to assign the task of painting the Salone to Pietro da Cortona, who was formally commissioned by Francesco Barberini, the nephew of Urban VIII. The allegorization of the pope and his reign is the dominant idea in the painting of the Salone, the large hall that forms the public centre of the palace. The divinely ordained rule of Urban VIII and the apotheosis of his Tuscan family whose roots could be traced back to antiquity, are cleverly incorporated into a timeless and universal perspective by Pietro da Cortona.
The ceiling vault depicts the Triumph of Divina Providentia - Apotheosis of the House of Barberini and the Papacy of Urban VIII. To study the four compartments of the vault with their teeming figures it is necessary, after beginning with the centre, to change one's position four times. The best view of the centre of the ceiling is from the oval vestibule that served as an entryway. From there the triumphant personification of Divina Providentia appears to crown a pyramidal structure. The four frieze-like panels of the side walls present a compositional unity for the pictorial program.
The Palazzo Barberini, residence of the papal family Barberini, set a new standard for Roman palace architecture and its painted decoration. It can be stated that Cortona's ceiling is the key work in Baroque ceiling painting.
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