Allegory of the Catholic Faith  1672

In this atypical painting the artist employed a more abstractive style to suit the intellectual subject. The emotive figure of Faith with "the world at her feet" (according to Ripa’s compendium of allegories) casts her eyes to Heaven, symbolized by a glass sphere. On the floor, the apple of Original Sin sits near a serpent, representing Satan, who is crushed by Christ, the...