L ike the air we breathe, peace does not typically command our attention until we lose it. That is why the study of peace is inextricably linked to that of war: it seeks to understand the root causes of conflict and illuminate ways to end or avoid violence. But peace is a condition in itself, and it warrants our attention as much today as it did in the 14th century, when the Italian artist Ambrogio Lorenzetti painted his powerful and enigmatic three-panel fresco in the Sala dei Nove of Siena’s Palazzo Pubblico, where Siena’s council of nine magistrates met. The fresco’s main scenes, which depict the “Allegory of Good Government,” the “Effects of Good Government in the City and the Countryside,” and the “Allegory of Bad Government,” are considered to be one of the most influential secular

See Full Page