Supplicants before an Enthroned King and Queen 1624 - 1663

Francesco Allegrini created this pen and brown ink drawing titled "Supplicants before an Enthroned King and Queen" sometime in the 17th century. It depicts a scene of subjects appealing to royalty. Drawn in Italy, its likely context would have been the papal court. The papacy was a major political power. Its territories were ruled by a monarch who was also head of the Catholic church. In its time, the Catholic church was one of the major patrons of the arts, offering opportunities for artists, such as Allegrini, to advance their careers. We can imagine that Allegrini aspired to produce grander paintings and frescoes as part of the church's project of self-glorification. Historians use drawings like these to understand artists’ training and thought processes, but also to understand the nature of political and social institutions of the time. The visual codes representing authority and deference are critical to understanding the politics of imagery in early modern Europe.