Youth Tempted by the Vices
Luca Giordano·1664
Historical Context
Youth Tempted by the Vices belongs to Giordano's allegorical moral subjects, depicting the standard literary and pictorial theme of the Choice of Hercules or the soul's temptation by personified vices — attractive female figures representing Pleasure, Sloth, or Luxury attempting to draw a young man from the path of virtue. The subject had ancient precedents (the Judgment of Hercules by Prodicus, transmitted by Xenophon) and was elaborated extensively in Renaissance and Baroque allegory. Annibale Carracci's famous Choice of Hercules in Naples demonstrated the canonical Baroque treatment, and Giordano's version belongs to the same tradition. The youth's vulnerability to vice, combined with the beauty of the temptresses and the visual pleasure of depicting multiple female figures, gave the subject a characteristic Baroque combination of moral instruction and sensuous pictorial pleasure that made it popular for domestic decorative programs in aristocratic homes.
Technical Analysis
The central youth is flanked by tempting figures representing various vices, creating a symmetrical moral composition. Giordano's characterization of each vice through distinct gestures and attributes demonstrates his inventive allegorical imagination.
Look Closer
- ◆Notice the symmetrical moral composition with the central youth flanked by tempting figures: the visual balance between virtue and vice places the young person — and the viewer — in the position of choosing between them.
- ◆Look at Giordano's characterization of each vice through distinct gestures and attributes: the vices are made specific and recognizable rather than generic, giving the allegory the particularity of observation.
- ◆Find the 1664 Städel Museum provenance: one of Germany's great art museums acquired this Giordano — the Städel's collection of Italian Baroque works is among the finest in the German-speaking world.
- ◆Observe that the Choice of Hercules subject — virtue versus pleasure — was among the most intellectually respectable mythological subjects, allowing patrons to display moral philosophy through sensuous painting.
