|
Peace and Victory (Treaty of Nystadt)
P. Baratta. 1725
Peace and Victory monumental group was made by special request, brought to St Petersburg, and mounted in the Summer Garden in 1726, when Peter the Great was already dead.
The group is an allegory of the Treaty of Nystadt, which established the military success of Russia in the 1700-1721 Northern War with Sweden.
Peace is symbolised by a sitting female figure who holds cornucopia with ears, vegetables, and flowers in her hand - "peace brings prosperity". The torch, which Peace descends to the spoils of war at her feet, is a sign of the end of war. The winged goddess of Victory with a palm-branch in her hand laurels the Peace. Her foot is on the body of the prostrate lion, which means "that the force is brought away by the victory", as Savva Ragusinsky put it.
A paw of the prostrate lion in on the cartouche with an inscription in Latin: "Magnus est qui dat et qui accipit sed maximus qui ambe haec date potest" (Both are great: the one who gives and the one who accepts. But the greatest is the one who can do both). This is said about Russia, who proposed that Sweden accept peace, and of Sweden, who accepted the offer, although God above them is the greatest. The Most High is mentioned in order to hint that Russia won "not without God-s help".
|
