Triumph of the Virtue

Artwork: Triumph of the Virtue

Artist: Andrea Mantegna

Created: 1502

Medium: Tempera on canvas

Dimensions: 160 x 192 cm

Location: Louvre Museum

The Triumph of the Virtue (also known as Minerva Chases the Vices from the Garden of Virtue), is the second picture, painted by the Italian Renaissance painter Andrea Mantegna for Isabella d’Este’s cabinet, after the Parnassus of 1497. The theme of the painting is detailed on the parchment paper, written in Latin, Greek and Hebrew, wrapped around the body of Mater Virtutum. This can be seen on the left side of the painting, the prisoner of an olive tree, invoking the cardinal virtues, three of which appear on the sky. In the upper left we see the eruption of the volcano and anthropomorphic clouds is a sign, that nature wants to contribute to the liberation of the garden from degradation, in which the vices throw humanity. Minerva’s arrival puts the crowd of grotesque characters on the run – laziness is represented by the character without hands, dragged with a rope of inertia.

The naked and quiet woman is Venus, who symbolizes sensual love.

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