The Choice of Hercules Frame:white Sir John Cropley (now Leeds

Sir John Cropley (now Leeds City Art Gallery)

was begun in 1886 but not completed until two years later

on its right (Giovanni Bandini

It was painted in true Pre-Raphaelite manner

A386 is now considered to be an early work of c

The Choice of Hercules Frame:white Sir John Cropley (now LeedsAnthony Ashley Cooper, 3rd Earl of Shaftesbury, retired to Naples in 1711 due to ill health and planned a second, illustrated edition of his philosophical works, Characteristicks. For his treatise on the advantages of Virtue over Pleasure he commissioned an allegory of The Choice of Hercules from Paolo de' Matteis. A talented pupil of Luca Giordano, de Matteis had studied in Rome and worked in France: his graceful classicism earned him high ranking