This symbolic representation was depicted by Marcantonio Franceschini (1648-1729).
The painter was a faithful and archaic follower of Carlo Cignani and, generally, of the Bolognese academicism. In this fresco (1683-1687), he has expressed his classicist culture: almost in an unholy liturgy, in this work we can observe Mercury, the symbol of eloquence and reason, that is on the top of an altar and that entrusts a sheet with the name of the well-known Bolognese physician and biologist Marcello Malpighi to Eternity. Malpighi (1628-1694) was still alive at the time and he was at the height of success, despite the strenuous opposition of conservative medical circles, of which Girolamo Sbaraglia was an exponent.
On the right, Medicine attends the scene while holding a caduceus.
The figures are placed in a sort of chapel with an apse composed of decorated ribs, on whose background there are some putti that fly with laurel wreaths.
Upper arcaded loggia.
Curiosities
![](http://bimu.comune.bologna.it/biblioweb/archiginnasio-palace/wp-content/uploads/sites/30/2019/08/memorieMalpighi-Sbaraglia-150x150.jpg)