Allegory of Painting and Architecture

Most of what survives from Rustichino is dark and religious. This is the other side of him, a bright allegory in which two arts appear as women. Since founding its Accademia del Disegno in 1563, Florence had argued that painting, sculpture and building were learned pursuits rather than mere trades, and personifying them as dignified figures belonged to that claim. By the usual convention Painting carries her brushes and Architecture her compass and rule, and Rustichino sets the two together as sisters. The picture, made around 1620, later entered the Medici grand-ducal collections, which is how it came to the Uffizi.