Lot Essay
Richard Ormond gives the following account of the picture in the catalogue of the 1972 exhibition:
'This picture, representing Hercules choosing between sacred and profane love, was Maclise's entry for the 1831 Royal Academy gold medal competition for history painting - the most important English academic prize. The presentation was made by Sir Martin Archer Shee, the Royal Academy President, on 10 December 1831. There were five candidates, and Maclise was so nervous during the speech that he didn't hear a word, 'but my own name, which completed it'. This award, crowning a brilliant student career, entitled Maclise to a travelling scholarship in Italy, but he declined to put himself forward - an indiation of his lack of interest in Italian art at this period of his life.
In subject and treatment, the Choice of Hercules is a typical academic exrcise. In the middle, Hercules, dressed in a lion's skin, can be seen reaching towards the erect figure of Virtue, who points upward, while Vice clinging seductively to his arm tries to draw him back, a rose garland linking their feet together. The scene takes place in semi-darkness on a mountain side. The fairly conventional composition is based on an upward diagonal from right to left. The figure of Virtue, arresting the movement of the design on the left, is painted in an appropriately severe classical style. Vice, on the contrary, is a lush and sensual figure, partly derived, like the putti, from the work of Correggio. The swirling design of the putti, like a flat illustrated border, recalls the work of Etty in its extravagant profusion of nude forms, and looks forward to Maclise's later fairy paintings. The effect of the lighted pergola or cave on the right, together with a similarly decorative use of foliage, occurs in Maclise's contempoarary oil painting of the Jervis Children (R. W. Bankes Collection). The draughtsmanship of the figures is firm and assured, revealing Maclise's mastery of academic methods, and its effect is heightened by the dramatic use of chiaroscuro. Although the picture is a prelude to his lavish figure compositions of the 1830s, it looks back to an older, 18th century tradition of history painting. It owes a debt, for instance, to Benjamin West's picture of the same subject (1764), and, in a more generalized way, to the work of the Bologna School, and to the late subject paintings of Reynolds, several of which Maclise copied (see artist's sale, lots 242-4).'
A drawing of this subject (National Gallery of Ireland; no.64 in the 1972 exhibition) is presumably a preliminary study for the painting.
'This picture, representing Hercules choosing between sacred and profane love, was Maclise's entry for the 1831 Royal Academy gold medal competition for history painting - the most important English academic prize. The presentation was made by Sir Martin Archer Shee, the Royal Academy President, on 10 December 1831. There were five candidates, and Maclise was so nervous during the speech that he didn't hear a word, 'but my own name, which completed it'. This award, crowning a brilliant student career, entitled Maclise to a travelling scholarship in Italy, but he declined to put himself forward - an indiation of his lack of interest in Italian art at this period of his life.
In subject and treatment, the Choice of Hercules is a typical academic exrcise. In the middle, Hercules, dressed in a lion's skin, can be seen reaching towards the erect figure of Virtue, who points upward, while Vice clinging seductively to his arm tries to draw him back, a rose garland linking their feet together. The scene takes place in semi-darkness on a mountain side. The fairly conventional composition is based on an upward diagonal from right to left. The figure of Virtue, arresting the movement of the design on the left, is painted in an appropriately severe classical style. Vice, on the contrary, is a lush and sensual figure, partly derived, like the putti, from the work of Correggio. The swirling design of the putti, like a flat illustrated border, recalls the work of Etty in its extravagant profusion of nude forms, and looks forward to Maclise's later fairy paintings. The effect of the lighted pergola or cave on the right, together with a similarly decorative use of foliage, occurs in Maclise's contempoarary oil painting of the Jervis Children (R. W. Bankes Collection). The draughtsmanship of the figures is firm and assured, revealing Maclise's mastery of academic methods, and its effect is heightened by the dramatic use of chiaroscuro. Although the picture is a prelude to his lavish figure compositions of the 1830s, it looks back to an older, 18th century tradition of history painting. It owes a debt, for instance, to Benjamin West's picture of the same subject (1764), and, in a more generalized way, to the work of the Bologna School, and to the late subject paintings of Reynolds, several of which Maclise copied (see artist's sale, lots 242-4).'
A drawing of this subject (National Gallery of Ireland; no.64 in the 1972 exhibition) is presumably a preliminary study for the painting.