Veronese’s Allegories:
Virtue, Love, and Exploration in Renaissance Venice
April 11 through July 16, 2006
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Paolo Veronese (1528–1588)
Allegory of Navigation with an Astrolabe, c. 1565
Oil on canvas
81 x 46 in (206 x 117 cm)
Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Gift of The Ahmanson Foundation
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An old bearded man wearing a turban — possibly an unidentified historical character — is monumentally placed among architectural ruins. Behind him a heavy iron anchor cuts the painting diagonally. With his hands he holds a planispheric astrolabe, an instrument used to determine the altitude (the angle above the horizon) of the sun and the stars. The most practical use of this instrument was the determination of time. It is likely that the man represents a figure related to a particular aspect of navigation.>>
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