Carracci, Annibale (1560-1609)
Studio per La scelta di Ercole (Study for the Choice of Hercules)
c.1595–1597
Pen and ink over traces of red chalk on paper, 22.3 × 19.3 cm
Princeton University Art Museum, Princeton
Annibale Carracci’s first decorative project for the Farnese Palace in Rome was the vault of Cardinal Odoardo’s study, which he painted with scenes from the life of Hercules. This is a rough draft for The Choice of Hercules, in which the adolescent hero must decide between the paths of Pleasure and Virtue (opting for the latter). Prior to determining the final solution, in which the two allegorical figures flank Hercules, Annibale considered and then abandoned an asymmetrical composition, here rendered with a flurry of staccato pen strokes. In the eighteenth century the drawing belonged to the famed French collector Pierre-Jean Mariette, whose elegant blue mat and gold-bordered frame temper the distracting effects of iron gall ink corrosion throughout the sheet. (PUAM)