Fortitudo

Dated 1666 and held at the Vlaamse Kunstcollectie, this allegorical figure of Fortitudo — Fortitude, one of the four Cardinal Virtues — belongs to the tradition of virtue personification that ran from classical antiquity through the Renaissance and Baroque periods as a staple of civic and religious decorative programmes. Quellinus was deeply involved in the decoration of Amsterdam's new Town Hall (completed 1655), for which he painted extensive allegorical programmes, and this Fortitudo may be a related study or independent variant of similar work. Fortitude is typically depicted as an armoured female figure carrying a column or lion as attributes of strength and endurance. The post-Rubens Antwerp tradition in which Quellinus worked gave such figures a monumental physical presence appropriate to their moral ambition.

Allegorical figures demand a specific kind of painting — the figure must be recognisable as a type (virtue personification) while retaining enough physical specificity to be visually compelling. Quellinus models the figure with the robust physicality he learned from Rubens's workshop, using strong value contrasts between illuminated drapery and shadowed areas to give the figure sculptural presence.