Giovanni Antonio Pellegrini
Venice, 1675-1741
Justice Fulminating the Vices, 1717
Oil on canvas.
During a year-long stay in Antwerp, Pellegrini carried out three major decorative projects. This painting is an oil sketch for one of those, a much admired canvas for the ceiling of the Salle du Petit College in the city’s Town Hall. Appropriate to that setting, it represents the figures of Justice and Prudence crushing two male figures identifiable as Avarice and Deceit. Phosphorescent in color, practically sculpted in paint, this sketch dramatizes the material properties for which Pellegrini was so highly regarded.