1-154-635 - Art Media/Heritage Images

'Wealth', 1640. A large serpentine figure of a woman draped in fabric is seated in front of an imposing architectural background. She is carrying a child in her arms while gazing at another standing close by, who is proffering a fistful of jewels. At her feet, two masterly still lifes show an open book and a heap of dishes and vases made of silver and gold plate, one of which is decorated with the story of Apollo and Daphne. For this personification of Wealth, Vouet refers, like most of his contemporaries, to the Iconologia of Cesare Ripa - a work published in the late sixteenth century that catalogued the representation of allegorical figures, giving them very precise attributes. From the collection of the Louvre Museum, Paris, France.