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Description: | Signed: yes Description: Through much of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries the northern Netherlands (the United Provinces) struggled against Hapsburg rule for their independence, a struggle in which the Spanish Netherlands was frequently a battleground. The picture was painted in the middle of the Twelve Year Truce (1609-21) between the Spanish Netherlands and the United Provinces which led to the temporary lifting of a blockade by the Dutch on the River Scheldt, Antwerp's chief trading route and the key to its economic prosperity. The picture was commissioned by the Assembly Rooms of the Antwerp Guild of Old Crossbowmen, the city's main militia company. Janssens' allegory celebrates the blessings and benefits of peace that this truce heralded. Concord or Peace is personified by the female figure to the left. In keeping with the symbols shown in Caesar Ripa's Iconologia, she is crowned with an olive wreath for Peace, and holds a cornucopia symbolising Abundance, a consequence of Peace. In her right hand, she clasps a bundle of arrows, signifying Concord. At her feet, sits the dove of Peace. Binding her arrows together are two female figures representing Charity and Sincerity. The latter, clad in white, wears a crown of red and white roses, which symbolise both the city of Antwerp and the Old Crossbow Guild. The former wears red and shelters a sleeping child with a burning heart, symbolising Charity or Love. Seated in shadow at the background right is the malevolent figure of Envy, wearing serpents in her hair to denote the fact that she always spreads poison, and devouring her heart. With her sagging breasts and hideous grimace, she registers horror at the triumph of Peace, symbolised by the winged putto bearing a wreath. | Subjects: | Concord) allegory (Peace | Source: | Vads | Creator: | Artist: Janssens, Abraham (Flemish painter, ca.1575-1632) Æ | Identifier: | http://www.vads.ac.uk/large.php?uid=8310... | Go to resource |
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