The print Virtue Triumphs (When the Devil Sleeps) is a loose reinterpretation of one of my least favorite works in art history, An Allegory with Venus and Cupid by Bronzino (1545).
What interested me about the subject matter here was a sort of anti-titillating effect—the original is syrupy-sweet, but my image is more ironic. I wanted the figures to look decadent, exhausted, and spiritless rather than erotic or excited.
The devil character in the background is just waking up hence virtue is not triumphing anymore. —From Brandywine Workshop and Archives records
