Pietro Antonio Torri and Pietro Ricchi, The Virtues at Sant'Alvise
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17th century
Fresco
Church of Sant'Alvise, Venice, Italy
These frescos are situated along the top of the walls of the nave. In most respects they follow conventional iconography. Faith is usually pictured with a cross and a chalice containing the Eucharistic host, and Justice holds a sword and scales even in modern courthouses in the United States. But there are some interesting divergences.
The church is attached to a convent, and above the rear section of the nave is a barco, a screened structure for the nuns attending Mass. The virtues seem to be portrayed with the nuns in mind. For example, Humility is pictured although it is counted among neither the theological nor the cardinal virtues. Her crossed-arms gesture is borrowed from late- and post-medieval Annunciation images, suggesting that in practicing humility the sisters will be modeling themselves on the virtues of the Virgin Mary.
The portrait of Charity seems to be contrived to avoid scandalizing the sisters' sensibilities. This virtue is usually pictured with a naked infant at her breast and another at her feet, but here the nursling is absent and the standing child is fully clothed. Instead, the fruitfulness implied by the nursing breast is symbolized by the sheaves of grain.
Like Humility, Mercy is not among the theological or cardinal virtues, but she is one of the Four Daughters of God, a trope based on Psalm 84:11, "Mercy and truth have met each other: justice and peace have kissed."1 In the trope Mercy is balanced by Justice, so the artist has placed them respectively to the right and left of the apse.
View these photographs in full resolution: Charity, Faith, Humility, Justice, Mercy.
Read more about images of the Virtues.
Photographed at the church by Richard Stracke, shared under Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike license.