Allegory of Divine Providence and Barberini Power (Cortona) Allegory of Divine Providence and Barberini Power (Cortona) The Allegory of Divine Providence and Barberini Power is a fresco by Italian painter Pietro da Cortona, filling the large ceiling of the grand salon of the Palazzo Barberini in Rome, Italy. Begun in 1633, it was nearly finished in three years; upon Cortona's return from Venice, it was extensively reworked to completion in 1639. The Palazzo, since the 1620s, had been the palatial home of the Barberini family headed by Maffeo Barberini, by then Urban VIII, who had launched an extensive program of refurbishment of the city with art and architecture.
Urbano Barberini (1664–1722) Urbano Barberini (1664–1722) Urbano Barberini (1664 – 27 September 1722) was an Italian nobleman of the House of Barberini, third hereditary Prince of Palestrina and last legitimate male heir of the Barberini line from Pope Urban VIII. Urbano Barberini was the fourth child of the marriage, of Maffeo Barberini and Olimpia Giustiniani, which had reconciled the Barberini with the papacy after the Wars of Castro and falling out with Pope Innocent X. He was a brother of Cardinal Francesco Barberini (Junior) and a cousin of Rinaldo d'Este, Duke of Modena whose mother, Lucrezia Barberini, was Urbano's aunt. At his father's