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About This Work
The scene features a lively cavalcade and a chariot moving across a landscape, personifying the energetic and turbulent nature of young adulthood. Key figures include personifications of Ambition (holding a caduceus), Temerity (on horseback with a tambourine), and Virtue (seated in the chariot with an open book). Symbols such as a celestial globe, musical instruments, and a bow-wielding putto emphasize the restless, searching quality of this life stage.
This work is a classic example of the 'Ages of Man' motif, which synthesizes classical concepts of human development with Renaissance moral allegory. It reflects the Stoic and humanist preoccupation with balancing worldly activity and passions with the cultivation of virtue during the prime of life.
Inscriptions(Latin)
AMBITIO ARE TEMERITAS VIRTUS Ut sol in medio splendesit corpore Mundi, Ipse dies medius dum rerum conirabit vmbras: 2 Per tore sic iuuenis sese melioribus offert, Et teneros firmat concepto robore neruos.
Translation
AMBITION ARE [Gold/Wealth] RASHNESS VIRTUE As the sun shines in the middle of the body of the World, The middle day itself draws together the shadows of things: 2 Thus the youth offers himself to better things, And strengthens his tender nerves with conceived power.
Connected Texts
Ovid
The 'Ages of Man' concept is deeply indebted to classical literary traditions found in Ovid's Metamorphoses and subsequent commentaries.
Provenance & Source
Object
Engraving
allegory
Digital Source
Unknown · Public domain
Linked Data
AI AI-cataloged fields generated by gemini-3.1-flash-lite-preview on April 14, 2026. Getty identifiers are AI-inferred and may require verification.