Ceiling decoration

When Maratti began his painting on the large two-story Salone of the Palazzo Altieri, he was planning to paint the entire ceiling not just the centre of the ceiling. However, his employers felt that the pictorial program was not appropriate for a number of reasons. Maratti therefore painted the centre panel composed in the style of church ceilings. Called the Trionfo della Clemenza (Triumph of Clementia), the ceiling presents an allegorical glorification of Pope Clement X Altieri and his nephews, which in a play on his name celebrates a central personification of Clementia (Mercy). Around her twines an allegorical composition that immortalizes the pope’s happy and peaceful reign.