Ceiling decoration
by VASARI, Giorgio, Fresco
The picture shows part of the ceiling decoration of the Sala del Camino (Room of the Hearth). The central octagon represents Virtue, with Envy under her feet and holding Fortune by the hair, beating them both. There is a built-in sardonic joke that Vasari much enjoyed: “if you move round the room and stand in the middle, Fortune is overcoming Envy and Virtue, and from another view point, Virtue is overcoming Envy and Fortune, just as happens many a time in life.”