User:CountryDoctor/The Allegory

Original
The picture shows an idealized woman representing the Catholic faith, adoring heaven, represented as a glass sphere dominating the globe (the mundane nature of which is indicated by its realistic rendering). In the foreground, a block representing the cornerstone of the Church (Christ) crushes a snake (the Devil), and on the floor closer to the woman is an apple, representing the apple of original sin in the Garden of Eden, which required the sacrifice of the Saviour. On the table are a long cloth of silk (possibly a priest's stole), a large book (perhaps the Missale Romanum), a crucifix, a chalice, and a crown of thorns. The last three items refer to the sacrifice of Jesus and the sacrament of the Eucharist, which was denigrated by Protestant critics in Vermeer's time. The setting may be a small chapel of a private house &mdash; a typical Catholic "hidden church" in the Dutch Republic of the time.

Description and symbolism
The iconography of the painting largely follows the description of Faith in Cesare Ripa's book, Iconologia ("a seated lady [...] her feet resting on Earth" and wearing a blue dress). As in Ripa's description, the painting has a large book and a chalice (here on an altar; in Ripa, on a cornerstone representing the rock on which Peter was directed by Christ to build his church. The book may be the Missale Romanum. The crucifix, chalice and the crown of thorns at the base of the altar all represent the sacrament of the Eucharist (sacred to Catholics but denigrated by Protestant critics in Vermeer's time) and the sacrifice of Jesus, an idea reinforced by the large painting depicting Jesus on the Cross.

Also on the table is a long silk cloth, possibly a priest's stole. The woman looks up at a hanging glass sphere

According to the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the woman specifically represents the Catholic faith, not just faith in general.

The picture shows an idealized woman representing the Catholic faith, adoring heaven, represented as a glass sphere dominating the globe (the mundane nature of which is indicated by its realistic rendering). In the foreground, a block representing the cornerstone of the Church (Christ) crushes a snake (the Devil), and on the floor closer to the woman is an apple, representing the apple of original sin in the Garden of Eden, which required the sacrifice of the Saviour.

The setting may be a small chapel of a private house &mdash; a typical Catholic "hidden church" in the Dutch Republic of the time.-ref name=met1/- http://www.essentialvermeer.com/cat_about/faith.html

Wheelock book
The painting is unique in Vermeer's oeuvre in explicitly using symbols of abstract theological ideas.

''The painting depicts a woman in a fine white and blue satin dress with gold trimmings. She sits on a platform a step higher than the black and white marble floor, her right foot on a terrestrial globe and her right hand on her heart as she looks up, adoringly, at a glass sphere hung from the ceiling by a blue ribbon. Her left arm rests on the edge of a table which holds a golden chalice, a large book, and a dark-wood crucifix. Behind the crucifix is a gilt-leather panel. a crucifix and a large book. Beneath the book is a long piece of cloth, possibly a priest's stole. At the foot of the table is a crown of thorns. All of these items are on the platform, which is covered by a green and yellow rug, the edge of which is on the floor. At the bottom of the picture, nearer the viewer, is an apple, and nearer still a snake which has been squashed by a cornerstone. On the dim, far wall behind the woman, a large painting of Christ's crucifixion is hung on the wall behind the woman. To the viewer's left is a multicolored tapestry, pulled back at the bottom and seemingly the closest thing in the painting to the viewer. A chair with a blue cloth on it is immediately beneath and behind the tapestry and to the left of the snake and cornerstone.''

Vermeer's iconography in the painting is largely taken from Cesare Ripa's Iconologia'', an emblem book (a collection of allegorical illustrations with accompanying morals or poems on a moral theme) which had been translated into Dutch in 1644 by D. P. Pers. The artist used various symbols that Ripa described and illustrated in his book, along with symbols taken from other books and traditions. Two of the four allegorical figures of Faith ("Fede. Geloof" and "Fede Catholica. Catholijck of algemeen Geloof") given in Ripa's book provide many of the symbols in the painting, including the color of the woman's clothing, her hand gesture, and the presence of the crushed snake and the apple. ''

The painting shares several features with another, earlier allegory, Vermeer's Art of Painting'': the perspective is almost the same, and at the left of each painting is a multicolor tapestry pulled to the left to show the scene. That painting also used symbolism from Ripa (of Clio, muse of history). Vermeer's Love Letter uses the same or a similar gilt panel. ''

''In his book, Ripa states that Faith is the most important of the virtues. One image in the book shows her as a woman, dressed in white (signifying light and purity) and blue (which relates to heaven, as Ripa states in another text). Faith's hand on her breast symbolizes that the virtue rests in her heart. Christ is represented in the cornerstone crushing the snake (a symbol of the Devil), and the apple (the fruit Eve gave to Adam) represents original sin,. which in Christian doctrine required the sacrifice of the Saviour. . Ripa describes Faith as "having the world under her feet", and Vermeer used the symbol quite literally, showing a globe of the earth under the woman's right foot. (The globe, with its distinctive cartouche (decorative label) has been identified as one made by Hendrick Hondius.). ''

''The crucifix, painting of the Crucifixion and the glass orb are not mentioned by Ripa, and Vermeer changed some of the iconography that Ripa gave: Instead of Ripa's suggestion that Faith hold the chalice and rest her hand on a book, Vermeer put them on the table next to her. According to Arthur Wheelock, a University of Maryland academic and curator of a Vermeer exhibit at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, this is "an assemblage that gives the image a Eucharistic character not found in the text." By putting the golden chalice against the dark background of the painting's frame and the dark crucifix against the gilt-leather backdrop, the elements are given a greater prominence in the painting. Wheelock, citing his fellow academic at the University of Maryland, Quint Gregory, believes the slight overlapping of the chalice and the gold backdrop of the crucifix "may symbolically suggest the essential role of the Eurcharist in bridging the physical and spiritual realms", a very Catholic idea. ''

''The pose of the woman (hand on heart and eyes raised) is similar to Ripa's image of Theology. The pose was uncommon in Dutch art, but Vermeer was considered an expert in Italian painting, in which the image was often used (especially those of Guido Reni [1575-1642], whose works were then owned in Holland). Wheelock believes the large book, which has a metal clasp, is a Bible, but the Metropolitan Museum of Art states on its website tht the volume may be the Catholic Missale Romanum. ''

''The painting's iconography is not only Catholic, but some believe it is strongly influenced by Jesuit ideas. Departing from Ripa's allusion to the story of Abraham and Isaac (an Old Testament story said to prefigure the faithful sacrifice of Christ on the Cross), Vermeer instead uses an image of the Crucifixion itself &mdash; an image dear to the Jesuits. Vermeer used Crucifixion, a painting from about 1620 by Jacob Jordaens (1593-1678). The painter may have owned the painting itself or a copy of it. (The crucifix and gilt-leather panel are also thought to have been owned by Vermeer.) ''

''Another Jesuit influence in the painting is said to be the glass orb on which the woman sets her eyes. According to Eddy De Johgh, Vermeer appears to have taken it from an emblem book yy the Jesuit Willem Hesius' 1636 book, Emblemata sacra de fide, spe, charitate. In the emblem, "Capit Quod Non Capit", a winged boy, a symbol of the soul, is shown holding a sphere reflecting a nearby cross and the sun. In a poem accompanyig the emblem, Hesius states that the sphere's ability to reflect the world is similar to the mind's ability to believe in God. ''

Provenance and Exhibitions
''Vermeer's imaginative use of symbolism in the painting indicates to Wheelock that the painter was not given specific instructions on the allegory but chose the various items himself. The original owner may have been a Catholic in Delft, possibly the Jesuits in the city.''

The painting was depicted in the background of Portrait of a Cartographer and His Wife by Ferdinand Georg Waldmüller in 1824 (now in Westfälisches Landesmuseum, Münster)