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The picture shows one of the ends of the ceiling in the Galleria Riccardiana (above the entrance) depicting Pallas Athena Handing Ingegno the Golden Key to Recognition of Veritas. Assisted by Mercury, the god of commerce and eloquence, Pallas Athena is presenting a gold key to a personification of Ingegno, identified by an eagle helmet. This key will allow him to recognize Veritas, who is kneeling next to him. At the same time, the key can be taken as a reference to the owner of the palace, whose coat of arms bore a key. On the left Athena is presenting a hammer to two women identified as Industria and Artificium by the tools and utensils lying on the ground and by a swarm of bees. Seated on a rock is a youthful Amphion (or Orpheus), whose lute-playing casts a spell on the denizens of the air and the Roman she-wolf.
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