Allegory of the Catholic Faith

Artist
Johannes Vermeer
Year
ca. 1670–72
Medium
Oil on canvas
Dimensions
114.3 x 88.9 cm

Vermeer’s most ambitious allegorical painting depicts Faith as a woman in white and blue, her right hand pressed to her chest, her left foot resting on a globe. A crucifix, a chalice, and a serpent beneath her foot complete the Catholic iconography, while a painting of the Passion hangs on the back wall.
The painting is now in the Metropolitan Museum of Art (accession 32.100.18), The Friedsam Collection, Bequest of Michael Friedsam, 1931.