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Adriaen de Vries (artist) Netherlandish, 1556 - 1626 Empire Triumphant over Avarice, 1610 bronze overall: 77.3 x 34.8 x 31.8 cm (30 7/16 x 13 11/16 x 12 1/2 in.) Widener Collection 1942.9.148 On View |
Adriaen de Vries was one of the leading late Renaissance masters of northern Europe. His heroic figures -- female as well as male -- reflect study of the antique and of Michelangelo's sculpture, with an emphasis on self-consciously complicated, twisting poses.
Adriaen devised this bronze allegory for the Holy Roman Emperor Rudolf II, who had appointed him court sculptor at Prague in 1601. Once thought simply to represent "Virtue Overcoming Vice," the bronze has recently been interpreted as a specific theme close to the Emperor's heart. The dominant female figure, crowned with laurel, symbolizes Empire. The second laurel wreath she holds high proclaims her victory over a figure with ass' ears and a bag of gold coins that identify her as Avarice (the ears and the gold come from the ancient myth of King Midas, known for his greed and bad judgment). Rudolf was fighting, none too successfully, in wars against the Turks, and also struggling with the lands he ruled that were reluctant to grant the funds he needed to continue. The bronze gives form to his wish for triumph over both adversaries. The sculptor gave psychological force to this symbolic program in the rippling tension of the torsos and in the gaze that passes between the coolly imperious victor and the distraught vanquished.