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Anthony Ashley-Cooper, 3rd Earl of Shaftesbury, retired to Naples in 1711 due to ill health and planned a second, illustrated edition of his philosophical works, 'Characteristicks'. For his treatise on the advantages of Virtue over Pleasure he commissioned an allegory of 'The Choice of Hercules' from Paolo de' Matteis. A talented pupil of Luca Giordano, de Matteis had studied in Rome and worked in France: his graceful classicism earned him high-ranking patronage. Annibale Carracci's 'Choice of Hercules' in the Palazzo Farnese was a source for the composition. Shaftesbury provided detailed instructions for the attitudes and expressions of the figures. Hercules must choose between the hedonistic life exemplified by Pleasure, or Vice, and the rocky path of Virtue.
Title
The Choice of Hercules
Date
1712
Medium
oil on canvas
Measurements
H 198.2 x W 256.5 cm
Accession number
WA1980.92
Acquisition method
Purchased with the assistance of the Victoria and Albert Museum Purchase Grant Fund, the Art Fund, The Pilgrim Trust and the National Heritage Memorial Fund, (Blakiston, France, Bouch, Russell, Madan Funds), 1980
Work type
Painting
Ashmolean Museum, Oxford
Beaumont Street, Oxford, Oxfordshire OX1 2PH England
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