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Study of Hercules for "The Choice of Hercules"

1740-1742
Pompeo Girolamo Batoni (Italian, 1708–1787)
Batoni ran one of the most famous and influential studios in eighteenth-century Rome, and his reputation throughout Europe was equaled by few painters of his day. The painting for which this is a study is now in the Palazzo Pitti, Florence, and shows the mythological Roman hero Hercules choosing between Virtue and Vice, personified by two beautiful women.

Object Details

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