Skip to main content
The Walters Art Museum

Online Collection

Explore the Art Collection keyboard_arrow_down close
  • Explore By...
  • Category
  • Date
  • Medium
  • Creator
  • Places
  • Museum Locations
Open nav
The Walters Art Museum walters-logo-white
  • Calendar
  • Art
  • Shop
  • Give Now
  • Visit
    • Plan Your Visit
    • Hours
    • Directions & Parking
    • Food, Drink, & Shop
    • Free Admission
    • Tours
    • Accessibility
    • Visitor Promise
  • Experience
    • Virtual Museum
    • Exhibitions & Installations
    • Programs & Events
    • Collections
    • Buildings
    • Baltimore
  • Support
    • Support the Walters
    • Corporate Partnerships
    • Institutional Funders
    • Evening at the Walters
    • Volunteers
  • About
    • Mission & Vision
    • Leadership
    • Strategic Plan
    • Land Acknowledgment
    • Research
    • Policies
Menu close
Image for Allegorical Groups Representing the Four Parts of the World: Africa
tooltip-icon Creative Commons License

Creative Commons Zero

Download Image Zoom
  • arrow_forward_ios
  • arrow_forward_ios
Allegorical Groups Representing the Four Parts of the World: Africa Thumbnail
Allegorical Groups Representing the Four Parts of the World: Africa Thumbnail

Allegorical Groups Representing the Four Parts of the World: Africa

Francesco Bertos (Italian, active 1693-1733) (Artist)
ca. 1710-1725 (Late Baroque)
bronze
(Baroque Europe )

Very little is known about Francesco Bertos, a highly original artist who created a considerable number of complicated pyramidal groups in a very distinctive, ingenious style that mirrors the lightness and airiness of contemporary rococo painting in France.

These four groups (Walters 54.659, 54.657, 54.660, and 54.658) are allegories (symbolic representations) of the four parts of which the world was then thought to consist. All have their names engraved. In the allegory of Africa, the continent is represented by graceful, ightly-dressed inhabitants who gather grain, in reference to the great importance of parts of north Africa as a source of grain for Europe from the time of the Roman Empire into early modern times. The lion and a snake were traditional attributes of the savage aspects of Africa that both terrified and thrilled Europeans. See further 54.657.

Provenance
Provenance (from the French provenir, 'to come from/forth') is the chronology of the ownership, custody, or location of a historical object.

Spiradon, Paris; Jacques Seligmann and Co., Inc., New York, Sale, February 17, 1917; Henry Walters, Baltimore, 1917, by purchase; Walters Art Museum, 1931, by bequest.

Conservation

Date Description Narrative
7/15/1974 Treatment cleaned; examined for condition
Share
  • social-item
  • social-item
  • social-item

Geographies

Italy, Padua (Place of Origin) Italy, Venice (Place of Origin)

Measurements

H: 25 3/8 × W: 18 1/8 × D: 12 7/8 in. (64.5 × 46 × 32.7 cm)

Credit Line

Acquired by Henry Walters, 1917

Location in Museum

Charles Street: Third Floor: 18th-Century Art

Accession Number

In libraries, galleries, museums, and archives, an accession number is a unique identifier assigned to each object in the collection.

54.658

Do you have additional information?

Notify the curator

Related Objects

Image for Allegorical Groupings Representing the Four Parts of the World: Asia

Allegorical Groupings Representing the Four Parts of the World: Asia

Francesco Bertos (Italian, active 1693-1733)
ca. 1710-1725 (Late baroque)
view details

Hours

  • Wednesday—Sunday: 10 a.m.—5 p.m.
  • Thursday: 1–8 p.m.
  • Monday—Tuesday: Closed

Location

600 N. Charles St.
Baltimore, MD
21201

Phone

410-547-9000

  • Visit
  • Experience
  • What's On
  • About
  • Shop
  • Support The Walters
copyright

The Walters Art Museum

  • Accessibility
  • Privacy Policy/Terms of Use
  • Copyright Info
  • facebook
  • instagram
  • twitter
modal close
Image for
tooltip-icon Creative Commons License

Tooltip description to define this term for visitors to the website.

zoom-btn zoom-btn preview-download
  • arrow_forward_ios
  • arrow_forward_ios