Allegory of War and Peace
Rome
Dated 1758
White marble
Signed, dated & inscribed:
"Pellegrinus...Roma...MDCCLVIII"
Height 90 cm, width 45 cm, depth 33 cm
The Neoclassical sculpture group consists of a pair of female figures in an antique type. One of the figures is depicted in a Roman commander's garment consisting of a breastplate, leg dress, and a helmet trimmed with a plume of feathers; the woman also carries a staff with insignia in her left hand. The paludamentum, the cloak, appears to be loosely draped over her shoulders. The second figure, clad in a long chiton belted at the waist, embraces the left shoulder of the martial figure with her left hand, probably in an embrace. While the armoured woman is shown in a self-confident position - resting on her left standing leg and placing the right playing leg in a wide stance in front of her body - the second figure seems to be in motion and almost rushing towards her.
This type of scene derives from an ancient Roman model, with the martial figure following the so-called Ares Borghese and the figure in the long robe that of Aphrodite da Capua. A comparative example from Antiquity can be found in the Uffizi (inv. no. Sculture (1914) n. 4) and shows the divine couple of Venus and Mars, the goddess of beauty and the god of war. However, Mars is depicted in heroic nudity and Venus is only covered from the waist down. Numerous later rulers identified with this type and had their spouses and themselves depicted like this famous pair of lovers, for example Marcus Aurelius and Faustina the Younger or Hadrian and Sabina in the 2nd century A.D. The theme was also very popular in the 18th century when, for example, Antonio Canova (Possagno 1757 - 1822 Venice) created a version for the later George IV. (1762-1830) around 1815. This marble sculpture depicted the allegory of war and peace and was thus embedded into a cultural-political narrative. The larger-than-life statue is now in the Marble Hall at Buckingham Palace (RCIN 2038). Moreover, this significant theme is also found in a painting from 1776 by Pompeo Girolamo Batoni (Lucca 1708 - 1787 Rome). The sculpture shown here was presumably commissioned by an expert aristocrat in the mid-18thcentury.
