Allegory of the Treaty of the Pyrenees, Giovanni Francesco Romanelli, 1655–1658

Allegory of the Treaty of the Pyrenees, Giovanni Francesco Romanelli, 1655–1658

This one is worth being precise about, because the object itself is unusual. It is not a canvas hung on a wall. It is a fresco, painted directly onto a ceiling in the Louvre, part of a decorative scheme in what was once the Queen's summer apartment.

Giovanni Francesco Romanelli painted it between 1655 and 1658. Its subject is peace between France and Spain, personified through Minerva and Mercury standing amid the clouds beneath a crown carried by cherubs, with a painted banner across the scene reading Fruit des Victoires, the fruit of victories. The dating sits awkwardly against the Treaty of the Pyrenees itself, which wasn't signed until November 1659, a year or more after the fresco was finished. The Louvre's own catalogue records the 1655 to 1658 range as an estimate rather than a fixed date, so it's possible the scheme was reworked after 1659, or that the ceiling was always a broader allegory of peace between the two crowns rather than a depiction of the specific treaty. Whatever the exact occasion, the whole thing is set within an ornate gilded frame built into the ceiling itself.

It remains part of the Louvre's collection today, catalogued as INV 20349, in the Denon wing.

Corinthian's wallet is set from a public-domain photograph of the ceiling painting, carried across the leather face.

Source: Musée du Louvre, INV 20349 — collections.louvre.fr