VERONESE, Paolo
(b. 1528, Verona, d. 1588, Venezia)

Youth between Virtue and Vice

1580-82
Oil on canvas, 102 x 153 cm
Museo del Prado, Madrid

The painting treats an allegorical theme: the young man who has to choose between Vice and Virtue. Vice is embodied by a woman sitting on the left, whose scanty garments reveal part of her breasts, whereas the other, bare-footed woman, with the laurel wreath of glory on her head and taking a resolute step away to the right as if wishing to leave the picture field, personifies Virtue.