Allegorie der Weisheit und Stärke

Veronese painted this in Venice around 1565, a picture built to be read. On the left a woman, Divine Wisdom, turns her face up toward a heavenly light. On the right stands Hercules, the strongman of myth, but here he looks downward at a scatter of jewels and gold on the ground, worldly riches he is turning from. Near his foot are two Latin words, omnia vanitas, all is vanity, taken from the book of Ecclesiastes. The meaning is that wisdom aimed at heaven outweighs earthly wealth. The canvas went on to a remarkable line of owners, the collecting Emperor Rudolf II in Prague, then Queen Christina of Sweden, before Henry Clay Frick brought it to New York, where the gold in it still catches the light.