Allegory of virtue - Lodewyck Vay

Virtue, crowned with laurels by an angel holding the martyr's palm in the other hand, crushes Cupid with her foot, who drops the mask of vice. On the right, the celestial sphere, translucent and surmounted by a cross, symbolizes Virtue's spiritual power. It crushes temporal power, symbolized by bags of gold and playing cards. On the left-hand side of the picture, she abandons riches, symbolized by the cornucopia, to rely on spiritual meditation, symbolized by the open Bible and the skull. The symbolic reading can thus be made both from top to bottom and from left to right. This Virtue borrows heavily from Mary Magdalene.