DOMENICO MARIA CANUTI (1620-84)
An allegory of Divine and Human Wisdom
c.1677-80RCIN 906842
This is a study for a ceiling fresco in the monastery library of San Michele in Bosco outside Bologna. The allegory depicts Divine Wisdom, gesturing down towards the winged Glory who bestows laurel wreaths on Merit and Virtue. Among the clouds at lower left is the benighted Human Wisdom, on whom fall only a few shafts of the divine light.