allegory

A pictorial representation that visualises abstract ideas. In the Renaissance and Baroque period some especially complex allegories were devised. One scene in the series of paintings by Paul Juvenel in Pozsony (Bratislava, Slovakia), for example, depicts the allegory of Prudence and of the Good Government. The three female figures standing beside the enthroned Ferdinand II are Prudence, holding a mirror, Justice, holding scales, and Faith, with a Crucifixion in her hand. Opposite the king is Péter Pázmány, Archbishop of Esztergom, surrounded with the symbols of Good Advice. Next to him stands a female figure, the personification of the Good Government, leading a lion on a leash.

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