Giorgio Vasari
(Arezzo 1511–1574 Florence)
The Allegory of Patience
1552
inscribed lower right: DIVTVRNA TOLERANTIA
oil on canvas
197.8 x 107.8 cm (77⅞ x 42½ in.)
‘…Having therefore moved to Arezzo, and from there set out for Florence, I was compelled to paint for Monsignor Minerbetti, Bishop of that city – whom I regarded as my lord and dearest friend – a life-size portrait of Patience, which was subsequently used by Signor Ercole, Duke of Ferrara, as the obverse and reverse of his medal. Once this work was completed, I went to kiss the hand of Duke Cosimo, who, in his kindness, received me most graciously’
Giorgio Vasari, Le vite de’ piu eccellenti pittori, scultori e architettori, 1550 and 1568 eds, R. Bettarini and P. Barocchi (eds), 6 vols, Florence 1966–87, vol. VI, p. 398
Hover to zoom to maximum level or click to enlarge
Artwork details
A masterpiece of Florentine painting, The Allegory of Patience has only in the last decade been recognised as a pivotal work in the œuvre of Giorgio Vasari, best known for his monumental undertaking, The Lives of the Most Eminent Painters, Sculptors, and Architects (1550 and 1568 eds). The painting’s genesis is exceptionally well documented, having been commissioned in 1551 by the Bishop of Arezzo, Bernardo Minerbetti (d. 1574), for his private residence in Florence.
Set before an icy blue landscape beneath ominous skies, a statuesque female figure – the personification of Patience – huddles against the cold. Beside her, water slowly trickles from a water clock onto the stone below, whose gradual erosion, drop by drop, symbolises the virtue of steadfast endurance. The vessel’s curved surface reflects an inverted image of the surrounding landscape, a subtle display of Vasari’s artistic ingenuity. The inscribed motto DIVTVRNA TOLERANTIA (enduring patience) was composed for Minerbetti by the poet Annibale Caro (1507–1566). Patience had served as the bishop’s personal emblem since his youth, alluding to the hardships he had endured in his early life.
The Allegory of Patience exemplifies the intellectual sophistication and elegance of Florentine Mannerism. The monumental figure, her profile and powerful shoulders sharply silhouetted against the darkened sky, together with the work’s iridescent palette, reveal Vasari’s profound debt to Michelangelo (1475–1565). Michelangelo’s influence and art proved a palpable inspiration throughout Vasari’s career and, as surviving correspondence relating to this commission attests, Michelangelo conceived the design. The composition quickly achieved widespread renown, fuelled in part by the Duke of Ferrara’s desire to acquire a painting of the same subject and the subsequent proliferation of Florentine replicas and Emilian variants. The remarkable circumstances surrounding Vasari’s commission, its creation and the composition’s subsequent dissemination, together with an analysis of this autograph work, are explored by Carlo Falciani in Vasari, Michelangelo and the Allegory of Patience (2020).
Painted in Arezzo for Bernadetto Minerbetti, Bishop of Arezzo (1507–1574), Palazzo Minerbetti, Florence, and delivered to him there in 1552, where displayed in a ground-floor room (stanzaccia terrena); for this Vasari received 15 braccia of red satin worth 20 scudi;
Thence by descent;
The Klesch Collection.
London, The National Gallery, long-term loan, 2019–22.
Letters exchanged between Vasari and Minerbetti about the conception and commission of the painting and its later replication, dated 4 October 1551, 31 October, 14 November (with a drawing, now lost), 28 November, 5 May 1552 and 24 June 1553; a final letter referring to the painting written by Minerbetti to Vasari in 1565, in Frey 1923–30;
G. Vasari, Le vite de’ piu eccellenti pittori, scultori e architettori, 1550 and 1568 eds, R. Bettarini and P. Barocchi (eds), 6 vols, Florence 1966–87, vol. VI, p. 398 (‘…essendo dunque trasferitomi in Arezzo, per di lì venirmene a Fiorenza, fui forzato a fare a monsignor Minerbetti, vescovo di quella città, come a mio signore et amicissimo, in un quadro grande quanto il vivo, la Pacienza, in quel modo che poi se n’è servito per impresa e riverso della sua medaglia il signor Ercole duca di Ferrara. La quale opera finita, venni a baciar la mano al signor duca Cosimo, dal quale fui per sua benignità veduto ben volentieri’1);
G. Vasari, Le ricordanze, A. del Vita (ed.), Arezzo 1929, p. 73;
K. Frey, Il carteggio di Giorgio Vasari/ Der literarische Nachlass Giorgio Vasari, Munich 1923–30, vol. I, pp. 307, 310, 312–14, 317, 323, 341, 342, 346–58; and vol. II, p. 142;
J. Kliemann in Giorgio Vasari. Principi, letterati e artisti nelle carte di Giorgio Vasari, L. Corti, M. Daly Davi, C. Davis and J. Klieman (eds), exh. cat., Arezzo 1981, pp. 131–33 (although written in reference to the painting in the Palazzo Pitti—before the re-emergence of Vasari’s Patience—Klieman deduced from correspondence dated 7 January 1551 that the painting delivered to the bishop was executed by Vasari himself in 1552);
C. Falciani, ‘Vasari, Michelangelo e l’Allegoria della Pazienza’, Paragone, Arte LXX, no. 837, November 2019, pp. 3–35;
C. Falciani, Vasari, Michelangelo & the ‘Allegory of Patience’, London 2020;
B.L. Brown, ‘Book Review: Vasari, Michelangelo and the ‘Allegory of Patience’ by Carlo Falciani’, The Burlington Magazine, 163, no. 1423, October 2021, pp. 968–70, p. 969, fig. 3;
M. Wivel, ‘Loans: Giorgio Vasari, Allegory of Patience, 1552’, in The National Gallery Review of the Year April 2019 – March 2020, London 2020, p. 30, repr.;
A. Fenech Kroke, ‘Reviews: Vasari, Michelangelo and the ‘Allegory of Patience’, Carlo Falciani’, Renaissance Quarterly, 75, no. 4, Winter 2022, pp. 1335–36;
C. Falciani, ‘L’Allegoria della Pazienza per il vescovo aretino Bernardetto Minerbetti’, in A. Baroni and C. Acidini (eds), Vasari. Il Teatro delle Virtù, exh. cat., Galleria Comunale d’Arte Contemporanea e Sala Sant’Ignazio, Arezzo 2024, pp. 78–79, 85, 88–89, figs 1, 9 and 13.
1 ‘…Having therefore moved to Arezzo, and from there set out for Florence, I was compelled to paint for Monsignor Minerbetti, Bishop of that city – whom I regarded as my lord and dearest friend – a life-size portrait of Patience, which was subsequently used by Signor Ercole, Duke of Ferrara, as the obverse and reverse of his medal. Once this work was completed, I went to kiss the hand of Duke Cosimo, who, in his kindness, received me most graciously’
If you would like to use this image for educational purposes, please contact us.
Hover to zoom to maximum level or click to enlarge
Giorgio Vasari
(Arezzo 1511–1574 Florence)
The Allegory of Patience
1552
inscribed lower right: DIVTVRNA TOLERANTIA
oil on canvas
197.8 x 107.8 cm (77⅞ x 42½ in.)
‘…Having therefore moved to Arezzo, and from there set out for Florence, I was compelled to paint for Monsignor Minerbetti, Bishop of that city – whom I regarded as my lord and dearest friend – a life-size portrait of Patience, which was subsequently used by Signor Ercole, Duke of Ferrara, as the obverse and reverse of his medal. Once this work was completed, I went to kiss the hand of Duke Cosimo, who, in his kindness, received me most graciously’
Giorgio Vasari, Le vite de’ piu eccellenti pittori, scultori e architettori, 1550 and 1568 eds, R. Bettarini and P. Barocchi (eds), 6 vols, Florence 1966–87, vol. VI, p. 398
Artwork details
A masterpiece of Florentine painting, The Allegory of Patience has only in the last decade been recognised as a pivotal work in the œuvre of Giorgio Vasari, best known for his monumental undertaking, The Lives of the Most Eminent Painters, Sculptors, and Architects (1550 and 1568 eds). The painting’s genesis is exceptionally well documented, having been commissioned in 1551 by the Bishop of Arezzo, Bernardo Minerbetti (d. 1574), for his private residence in Florence.
Set before an icy blue landscape beneath ominous skies, a statuesque female figure – the personification of Patience – huddles against the cold. Beside her, water slowly trickles from a water clock onto the stone below, whose gradual erosion, drop by drop, symbolises the virtue of steadfast endurance. The vessel’s curved surface reflects an inverted image of the surrounding landscape, a subtle display of Vasari’s artistic ingenuity. The inscribed motto DIVTVRNA TOLERANTIA (enduring patience) was composed for Minerbetti by the poet Annibale Caro (1507–1566). Patience had served as the bishop’s personal emblem since his youth, alluding to the hardships he had endured in his early life.
The Allegory of Patience exemplifies the intellectual sophistication and elegance of Florentine Mannerism. The monumental figure, her profile and powerful shoulders sharply silhouetted against the darkened sky, together with the work’s iridescent palette, reveal Vasari’s profound debt to Michelangelo (1475–1565). Michelangelo’s influence and art proved a palpable inspiration throughout Vasari’s career and, as surviving correspondence relating to this commission attests, Michelangelo conceived the design. The composition quickly achieved widespread renown, fuelled in part by the Duke of Ferrara’s desire to acquire a painting of the same subject and the subsequent proliferation of Florentine replicas and Emilian variants. The remarkable circumstances surrounding Vasari’s commission, its creation and the composition’s subsequent dissemination, together with an analysis of this autograph work, are explored by Carlo Falciani in Vasari, Michelangelo and the Allegory of Patience (2020).
Painted in Arezzo for Bernadetto Minerbetti, Bishop of Arezzo (1507–1574), Palazzo Minerbetti, Florence, and delivered to him there in 1552, where displayed in a ground-floor room (stanzaccia terrena); for this Vasari received 15 braccia of red satin worth 20 scudi;
Thence by descent;
The Klesch Collection.
London, The National Gallery, long-term loan, 2019–22.
Letters exchanged between Vasari and Minerbetti about the conception and commission of the painting and its later replication, dated 4 October 1551, 31 October, 14 November (with a drawing, now lost), 28 November, 5 May 1552 and 24 June 1553; a final letter referring to the painting written by Minerbetti to Vasari in 1565, in Frey 1923–30;
G. Vasari, Le vite de’ piu eccellenti pittori, scultori e architettori, 1550 and 1568 eds, R. Bettarini and P. Barocchi (eds), 6 vols, Florence 1966–87, vol. VI, p. 398 (‘…essendo dunque trasferitomi in Arezzo, per di lì venirmene a Fiorenza, fui forzato a fare a monsignor Minerbetti, vescovo di quella città, come a mio signore et amicissimo, in un quadro grande quanto il vivo, la Pacienza, in quel modo che poi se n’è servito per impresa e riverso della sua medaglia il signor Ercole duca di Ferrara. La quale opera finita, venni a baciar la mano al signor duca Cosimo, dal quale fui per sua benignità veduto ben volentieri’1);
G. Vasari, Le ricordanze, A. del Vita (ed.), Arezzo 1929, p. 73;
K. Frey, Il carteggio di Giorgio Vasari/ Der literarische Nachlass Giorgio Vasari, Munich 1923–30, vol. I, pp. 307, 310, 312–14, 317, 323, 341, 342, 346–58; and vol. II, p. 142;
J. Kliemann in Giorgio Vasari. Principi, letterati e artisti nelle carte di Giorgio Vasari, L. Corti, M. Daly Davi, C. Davis and J. Klieman (eds), exh. cat., Arezzo 1981, pp. 131–33 (although written in reference to the painting in the Palazzo Pitti—before the re-emergence of Vasari’s Patience—Klieman deduced from correspondence dated 7 January 1551 that the painting delivered to the bishop was executed by Vasari himself in 1552);
C. Falciani, ‘Vasari, Michelangelo e l’Allegoria della Pazienza’, Paragone, Arte LXX, no. 837, November 2019, pp. 3–35;
C. Falciani, Vasari, Michelangelo & the ‘Allegory of Patience’, London 2020;
B.L. Brown, ‘Book Review: Vasari, Michelangelo and the ‘Allegory of Patience’ by Carlo Falciani’, The Burlington Magazine, 163, no. 1423, October 2021, pp. 968–70, p. 969, fig. 3;
M. Wivel, ‘Loans: Giorgio Vasari, Allegory of Patience, 1552’, in The National Gallery Review of the Year April 2019 – March 2020, London 2020, p. 30, repr.;
A. Fenech Kroke, ‘Reviews: Vasari, Michelangelo and the ‘Allegory of Patience’, Carlo Falciani’, Renaissance Quarterly, 75, no. 4, Winter 2022, pp. 1335–36;
C. Falciani, ‘L’Allegoria della Pazienza per il vescovo aretino Bernardetto Minerbetti’, in A. Baroni and C. Acidini (eds), Vasari. Il Teatro delle Virtù, exh. cat., Galleria Comunale d’Arte Contemporanea e Sala Sant’Ignazio, Arezzo 2024, pp. 78–79, 85, 88–89, figs 1, 9 and 13.
1 ‘…Having therefore moved to Arezzo, and from there set out for Florence, I was compelled to paint for Monsignor Minerbetti, Bishop of that city – whom I regarded as my lord and dearest friend – a life-size portrait of Patience, which was subsequently used by Signor Ercole, Duke of Ferrara, as the obverse and reverse of his medal. Once this work was completed, I went to kiss the hand of Duke Cosimo, who, in his kindness, received me most graciously’
If you would like to use this image for educational purposes, please contact us.
Learn more about this artwork
Allegory of Patience by Giorgio Vasari
Dr Matthias Wivel talks about Vasari’s masterpiece from The Klesch Collection, an important new addition to his oeuvre.
