Maclise's oil painting of The Choice of Hercules won him the gold medal for history painting at the Royal Academy in 1831. Hercules, dressed in a lion skin, reaches up towards Virtue on the left, while the sensuous figure of Vice clutches alluringly at his arm on the right (see R. Ormond and J. Turpin, Daniel Maclise, 1806-1870, exhibition catalogue, Arts Council, National Portrait Gallery, London, and National Gallery of Ireland, Dublin, March-June 1972, pp. 58-9,no. 63, repr.). As Dr. John Turpin has stated (letter of 27 July 1993), 'This drawing is probably the most extreme example of Neoclassical composition in Maclise's oeuvre since he was clearly conforming to the rules likely to get him the prize'.

The drawing differs from the oil in certain details (in the oil Virtue holds her outer draperies up over her head and there are no putti on the left-hand side), but the sharp definition of outline and areas of light and dark suggests that the drawing was made as a direct aid in preparing the composition for the canvas. A smaller drawing, 6 5/8 x 8¼in., is in the National Gallery of Ireland (see 1972 exhibition catalogue, no. 64)