Il rispetto (c.1575)

Veronese, Paolo (1528-1588)

Allegorie dell’amore: Il rispetto (Four Allegories of Love: Respect)
c.1575
Oil on canvas, 186.1 x 194.3 cm
National GalleryLondon

This is one of a series of four paintings by Veronese that concern the trials and rewards of love, although their precise meanings remain unclear. The compositions are designed to be seen from below so we know the pictures were intended for a ceiling or a series of ceilings. The paintings are recorded in 1648 in the collection of the Holy Roman Emperor in Prague. We do not know who commissioned them, but it is most likely that the Four Allegories of Love were painted for an Italian patron and were still in Italy in the 1620s, when Van Dyck recorded two of the compositions in his Italian sketchbook (British MuseumLondon).

It is possible that the paintings were made for the parallel suites of rooms of a husband and wife, two of the paintings for the reception room and bedchamber of the man and two for the equivalent rooms of his spouse.This painting and Scorn seem particularly intended for a male viewer.

Cupid drags a man in military costume by his phallic sword hilt towards a naked woman sleeping on a bed. Cupid’s golden arrow points rather crudely to the woman’s genitals, which are concealed by the red cloth over her leg. However, the man’s companion pulls him away by his arm. The man’s contorted pose suggests his dilemma – he is being pulled in two different directions at the same time. The subject seems to concern sexual temptation and restraint. The title ‘Respect’ is not original and was only given to the painting in 1727, but it may be that the man decides to resist temptation out of respect for the woman because she is asleep.

The woman’s chemise, embroidered with a pattern of black cross-stitch known as ‘black work’, and with a lace collar, appears to be discarded on the floor. It has been suggested that the glass beside the bed may indicate that the woman has been drinking, although there is no evidence that it is a wine glass. A fan is placed on the entablature above the bed. The mosaic scene in the arch has been identified as ‘The Continence of Scipio’ – an episode during which the military leader Scipio Africanus exercised sexual restraint in returning a female prisoner of war untouched to her family. However, this identification is not certain.

The subject of this painting has long caused controversy. When the National Gallery acquired the set of four paintings from Lord Darnley in 1890 this one was held back and eventually given for free as it was considered distasteful for public money to be spent on a painting of a man apparently about to take advantage of a sleeping woman. Lord Darnley wrote: ‘to tell the truth, I am only too glad to have ’le Respect‘, as it is so curiously designated, off my hands.’ (NG)

The other three Allegories of Love:

Veronese, Paolo (1528-1588)
Il disinganno
c.1575
National GalleryLondon

 

 

Veronese, Paolo (1528-1588)
L’infedeltà
c.1575
National GalleryLondon

 

 

Veronese, Paolo (1528-1588)
L’unione felice
c.1575
National GalleryLondon

 

 

These four paintings by Veronese are allegories of love. They are titled UnfaithfulnessScornRespect and Happy Union, although their precise meanings remain unclear and have been much debated. The titles were given to the paintings in 1727, and continue to be used in the absence of better suggestions.

They were intended for a ceiling or a series of ceilings. We can tell this because the architectural elements within them are tilted. The lower parts of the compositions are not included in the paintings, and in several cases the feet of the figures are not visible. These features would have worked when the paintings were displayed on a ceiling but are disconcerting when they are hung on a wall. The composition of each painting forms a strong diagonal, which on a ceiling would help relate the paintings to one another.

We do not know who commissioned them, but it is most likely that the patron was Italian and they were made for a Venetian location. They seem to have still been in Italy in the 1620s, when Van Dyck recorded two of the compositions (Unfaithfulness and Respect) in his Italian sketchbook (British MuseumLondon). In 1648 they were in Prague Castle, although it seems most likely that the patron was Venetian.

The paintings may have been made to decorate a husband and wife’s apartments as the subjects are connected with the trials and rewards of love. The scenes are not necessarily meant to go in any particular order and there is no obvious narrative development. The man in Happy Union does not appear in any of the other scenes.

It seems likely that the paintings were intended for the ceilings of a suite of four rooms rather than for a single ceiling. In each painting the light falls from the same direction, which supports this idea. Also, in Venice no private residence had a ceiling large enough for all four paintings and no ceiling with four square compartments is recorded. Since many European palaces had parallel suites of rooms for husband and wife, it is possible that two of the paintings were made for a reception room and bedchamber of a man and two for the equivalent rooms of his spouse. The series does seem to divide well into two pairs: Unfaithfulness with Happy Union; and Scorn with Respect.

It is likely that the rapidly brushed-in highlights on the figures were made in response to a final judgment of how the pictures looked when viewed from a distance and from below. That final judgment must have been Veronese’s own. The costumes and hairstyles relate to those in Veronese’s other paintings of the mid-1570s. (NG)

See also:

• Scipio Africanus, Publius Cornelius (236-183 BC)