Cocktails with a Curator: Veronese's 'Wisdom and Strength'

I really enjoyed this episode of the Frick Collection's weekly series Cocktails With a Curator. The history of Veronese's "Wisdom and Strength" is fascinating. This episode brought back memories of Peter Watson's book on the history of the painting's collectors over the years. "The 16th-century painting "Wisdom and Strength," an allegory by the Venetian Paolo Veronese, passed through the hands of the Holy Roman Emperor Rudolf II, Queen Christina of Sweden, the Duke of Orleans, and Thomas Hope, and survived war looting, art market fluctuations, and numerous journeys across Europe before reaching its current home at the Frick Collection in New York. British journalist Watson traces the colorful lives and times of the painting's owners, interjecting non- technical discussions of patronage, the history of pigment, and similar art historical topics." - Annette Melville 

 Book Available at: Wisdom and Strength by Peter Watson

Wisdom and Strength

Paolo Veronese (Italian, 1528–1588)

Date:ca. 1565

Medium:Oil on canvas

Dimensions:

84 1/2 x 65 3/4 in. (214.6 x 167 cm)

Credit Line:Henry Clay Frick Bequest

From the Frick: In this week’s episode of “Cocktails with a Curator,” enjoy a traditional Negroni with Deputy Director and Peter Jay Sharp Chief Curator Xavier F. Salomon (pictured above) as he discusses “Wisdom and Strength,” one of two large allegorical paintings by Paolo Veronese that hang in the West Gallery at the Frick. Discover the hidden message behind the two principal figures in this picture: a bearded brute clad in a lion skin and a woman of noble bearing with a miniature sun above her forehead. Tune in next week for a discussion of the painting’s companion work, “Choice Between Virtue and Vice.” To see this painting in detail, please visit our website: https://collections.frick.org/objects...