An Allegory of Prudence

An elderly man turns to one side, a younger man to the other, while the central face looks outwards. Beneath them sit the heads of a wolf, a lion and a dog. The pairing makes this an image to read as well as a group of faces to study. The Latin words above the men connect yesterday, today and tomorrow. Their warning is that present actions should learn from the past so they do not damage the future. This helps explain the painting’s title. Prudence means taking care in judgement before acting. Titian, the Venetian painter, revised the composition while making it. The animals were added relatively late and are painted more briefly than parts of the human faces. Differences in finish have prompted debate about how the picture developed. Its original purpose and the identities of the men remain uncertain. Rather than treating them as a settled family portrait, compare the ages, directions and expressions. Each face contributes a different kind of attention to the shared problem of choosing wisely.