Frontispiece of justine, or the misfortunes of virtue
this allegorical engraving perverts the iconographic motif of the choice of hercules as it developed from the ekphrasis of philostratus in the life of apollonius of tyana. But of course virtue is not supposed to have to choose between lust and irreligion. We can also read the engraving not allegorically, as the accompanying text suggests, but as a prototype of the sadean scene, associating the tribade, the virgin and the libertine. Finally, the gap between the generic device of hercules' choice and the explicitly announced allegorical device can prove significant: justine in the center pushes aside a horrifying figure of the furious mother to turn towards the handsome apollo, making the choice of love, as if, secretly, justine desired the libertine. Certainly, it is towards heaven that justine turns her eyes, and it is lust that undresses her. But the sky is empty and it is towards apollo that justine is turned
on the left is lust, under the figure of a young man whose leg is surrounded by a snake, symbol of the author of our evils; with one hand she removes the veil of modesty, which hid virtue from the eyes of the profane, and with the other, as well as with her right foot, directs the fall in which she wants to make her succumb. On the right is irreligion who forcefully holds one of the arms of virtue, while with a treacherous hand she tears a snake from her bosom, to poison it. The abyss of crime opens beneath their feet. Virtue, always strong in its conscience, raises its eyes towards the eternal. Object Type: frontispiece, etching print. Genre: allegory. Date: 1791. Medium: copper engraving print on paper. Depicted People: Apollo. Collection: Bibliothèque nationale de France. Sade - Justine, ou les Malheurs de la vertu - frontispice
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