Allegorical Representation, Possibly a Depiction of ‘Raison d’Etat’

Two women fill this canvas. One sits with her back half turned to us and raises her hand towards a sky streaked with fiery cloud. The other holds up a burning torch and looks down. Near their feet lie a globe and the head of a lion, and in the lower right corner, on the spine of a book, Pellegrini painted a single word, Republica. That word is about the only firm clue. The museum's title stays cautious and suggests the scene may show raison d'état, the idea that the interest of the state comes before everything else, while its guide to the room simply calls the two women the Republic. The team that studied the room during the renovation wrote that the subjects of both overmantels had long puzzled art historians. The canvas was cut to fit above a real fireplace, and fires were lit beneath it whenever guests were received. Pellegrini signed it at the lower right, next to the book.