Thursday, February 23, 2012

Painting: The Choice of Hercules

I'm planning on posting my second "d" entry for the PaganBlogProject soon, but until that's completed, here's a piece of art --


The Choice of Hercules 
Annibale Carracci, 1596
 

"...A vigorous and plastic Hercules is depicted with two women flanking him, who represent the opposite destinies which the life could reserve him: on the left the Virtue is calling him to the hardest path leading to glory through hardship, while the second, the Pleasure, the easier path, is enticing him to the vice.


Behind Hercules is a palm, which, through the leaves and the branches (a symbol of military victory and fame), hints to Hercules' future heroic life." (source)

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