An Allegory of the Continent of Europe

The present composition is a modello or riccordo for the lost overdoor formerly in the Conference Room of the Residenz, Munich, depicting one of a set of The Four Continents, which were destroyed during the Second World War. Dated to 1717 on the basis of style by Anna Paola Zugni-Tauro, (see A.P. Zugni-Tauro, Gaspare Diziani, 1971, p. 105, pl. 5) who further notes that when this room was redecorated by Franois Cuvillis in 1730, he might have reincorporated the overdoors into the new scheme, tempering his designs to fit in with the existing canvases.