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Credit
An arch decorated with a panel representing Ferdinand of Spain as Hercules choosing duty over pleasure. Etching by T. van Thulden after Sir P.P. Rubens. Wellcome Collection. Public Domain Mark. Source: Wellcome Collection.
An arch erected outside the abbey of St. Michael, Antwerp. The arch is toppped by an acroterion with the coat-of-arms of Ferdinand, a prince's crown, and a cardinal's hat, above which are a laurel branch and crossed palms encircled by a wreath. A banderolle across the palms proclaims the motto "Ardua per praeceps gloria vadit iter". To left and right stand angels holding banners inscriped P and F (Princeps Ferdinandus?). On either side of the pediment is a seated sphinx
The panel on the arch is described as follows in the British Museum online catalogue: "at centre, filling the tympanum is a large canvas representing the choice of Hercules at the moment he decides to follow the path of virtue; at the centre of the picture the Cardinal-Infante Ferdinand appears in the guise of Hercules Prodicius, wearing a lion's skin and holding his club in the company of Minerva at right, and Venus, Cupid and Bacchus at left, with a cannon and other military implements in the foreground; on the hilltop in the background stand the temples of Virtue and Honour, guarded by hybrid beasts." On the base of the panel is an inscription: "Herculi alexikakoi. Ardua saxoso semita clivo calcatur Fernande, tibi. Malesuada voluptas pellitur etc."
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