Description: Watermark: Cross in shield. Inscribed by the artist in pen and brown ink in the cartouche: LIBER[T]A. In pen and brown ink in the upper border: "original di pietro Testa; numbered in the lower right corner in pen and brown ink: 453 (Sparre).
Verso: Main features of the composition outlined in reverse. Pen and brown ink.

A number of ideas expressed in drawings in the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford, the Louvre, and the British Museum are further developed here. From the Ashmolean drawing, "An allegory of liberty", we recognize the grove in the background, two nymphs to the left and the placid panther, emblematic of Lucca, in the foreground. 
The Louvre drawing, "Venus submitting to the river Serchio" (An allegory of the virtues of Lucca) contributes the river Serchio, part of the Lucchese political imagery, Minerva and a woman holding a snake representing the virtues of fortitude and prudence that defend Lucca. Further, Venus accompanied by a little Cupid and a triumphal procession with a cupid riding a celestial globe. In the London drawing the figures are rearranged, the triumphal train moved nearer and to the right, the group with the river and Venus reversed and the position of Minerva and her companion changed.

In the Stockholm drawing all these elements reappear in a more monumental context. Behind the virtues a monument is surmounted by a crowned shield bearing the Lucchese motto LIBER[T]ATE. Little cupids play with the panther and Venus no longer bows down to the Serchio.

With small changes this drawing was used for an etching, "An allegory in Honour of the arrival of Cardinal Franciotti as bishop of Lulcca", 1637. testa quite simply replaced Venus and the procession of Cupid with a griffin arriving on a cloud in the company of the Theological Virtues, standing for the bishop.

The complicated iconography of the drawing is thus slightly changed to be used in a totally different context which demonstrates a rather easy-going use of the baroque allegorical vocabulary. [Bjurström, It. Drawings no. 834]

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Pietro Testa | Allegori över kärleken som underkastar sig floden Serchio och staden Luccas dygder | Nationalmuseum

Pietro Testa | Allegory of Love submitting to the river Serchio and the virtues of Lucca | Nationalmuseum

Titel (sv): Allegori över kärleken som underkastar sig floden Serchio och staden Luccas dygder
Titel (en): Allegory of Love submitting to the river Serchio and the virtues of Lucca
Titel i inventariet (sv): Flod, nymfer, m.m

Title (sv): Allegori över kärleken som underkastar sig floden Serchio och staden Luccas dygder
Title (en): Allegory of Love submitting to the river Serchio and the virtues of Lucca
Inventory title (sv): Flod, nymfer, m.m