The Story
Allegory of Sacred and Profane Love by Michele Desubleo. Bequest of Errol M. Rudman, 2020
Created in 1675 during the Baroque period, this work belongs firmly within the love & romance tradition. Michele Desubleo worked at a moment when the rivalry between Catholic Baroque drama and Protestant restraint reshaped what a painting could mean. Every gesture, fabric, and gleam of light was decoded by contemporary viewers like a private language.
Executed in Oil on canvas, measuring 59 × 76 1/2 in. (149.9 × 194.3 cm), the surface rewards close looking. Michele Desubleo builds the composition through layered glazes and a tightly controlled palette, letting cool shadows recede so that the warm, lit passages step forward. The brushwork shifts from the precise to the almost dissolved — a hallmark of mature Baroque practice.
“A silence so complete it becomes its own witness.”
