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.

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."

[Antwerp], [1642]

1 print : etching

Arcus ad D. Michaelis. Pars prior: Hercules Prodicius. P.P. Rub. invent. C. Gev. epig. illustrabat. T. a. Thul. fe.

Latin verses by Jean-Gaspard Gevaerts (Casperius Gevartius)

Wellcome Collection 11332i

After a design produced by Rubens in 1635 for a triumphal arch in Antwerp