Seven virtues
Visual art has always been an important means for communicating values. This is especially true with values related to faith. Artists can use their talents to help people think deeply and pray. Art can inspire people’s minds and hearts to greater love of God andneighbor. Being an artist has always been a great responsibility.
In 16th century Italy, the Painters’ Guild in Siena summarized their responsibilities as artists in the opening of their statutes saying, As by the grace of God we are able to reveal to the uneducated and literate the miraculous things achieved by virtue and in virtue of our Holy Faith… The belief that art was a powerful tool that could be used to educate the masses is a primary motivator in much of Medieval and Renaissance art. This conviction was based on a statement by Pope Gregory the Great in the sixth century that images should be encouraged by the Church because “in pictures, they who know no letters may yet read.” It offered a powerful motivator for those who could create such images in paintings and other forms (drawings, prints, sculpture etc).
The Theological and Cardinal and Virtues proved to be popular subject matter in the Medieval, Renaissance and Baroque periodsofWestern Art. Most people who could afford art were Christian. Many believed the more they did on earth to pay tribute to God, the better their chances to get into heaven. Therefore, they paid to have large projects carried out to honor God. These persons were known as patrons.
The virtues were chosen as a subject because they demonstrated a patron’s understanding of how one should live one’s life.

Piero del Pollaiuolo
Piero del Pollaiuolo (1443 –1496) was an Italian Renaissance painter from Florence. His brother was the artist Antonio del Pollaiuolo and the two frequently worked together. Their work shows both classical influences and an interest in human anatomy. Patronized by the Medici family, the brothers’ workshop produced articles of gold, bronze sculpture, paintings, and decorative work. Piero and his brother complete six of the seven virtues now in the Galleria degli Uffizi (Gallery of Virtues) museum in Florence, Sandro Botticelli completed the depiction of Fortitude, between 1469-1470.