Pietro da Cortona

Pietro da Cortona's paintings bring sacred stories and allegorical figures into compositions marked by broad movement and overlapping forms. His ceiling at the Barberini Palace in Rome made painted space an active part of a large architectural interior. Altarpieces and canvases such as The Calling of Saint Peter and Saint Andrew show his narrative painting on a different scale. Drawings and studies helped coordinate the figures, gestures, and viewpoints required by these varied commissions.