2-722-746 - Heritage Art/Heritage Images

Allegorical Figure, c. 1635. Strozzi drew this female figure in preparation for one of his major oil paintings, also owned by the Cleveland museum and currently on view upstairs in the Baroque Art gallery (220). Because of the armor, the subject of this drawing might be Bellona (goddess of war), or Minerva (goddess of wisdom), both of whom are usually shown wearing their armor. The figure may also be Thetis, the mother of the Greek hero Achilles, thanking the god Vulcan for the gift of a suit of armor for her son, or Venus, with the armor of her lover, Mars.