Hope

Seven paintings of the same size, representing the seven virtues, were commissioned from Piero del Pollaiuola in 1469 as the backs for chairs in the Audience Chamber in the Tribunale di Mercanzia in Piazza della Signoria, Florence. Six of these - representing Charity, Faith, Hope, Justice, Prudence and Temperance - were executed by Piero, while the seventh - Fortitude - was painted by the young Botticelli. The cycle was completed in 1472.

The Tribunale di Mercanzia was the body that decided on the business disputes between Florentine merchants and administered justice among the guilds, known as the Arts. In the 18th century, the wealth and heritage of this judiciary went to the Chamber of Commerce, including the seven paintings of the Virtues, taken to the Uffizi Galleries in 1777.

Hope is shown as a young woman looking up to the heavens, in prayer. Unlike the other Virtues in the seven paintings, it has no other attributes except for the ecstatic face of the woman, giving herself up to God, which is sufficiently explanatory.