Minerva and Sertorius

Juan Andrés Merklein painted this allegory in 1768. When Huesca's Sertoriana University (Universidad Sertoriana de Huesca)—named after the Roman soldier Quintus Sertorius—had its auditorium decorated in the last third of the 18th century, this was the first piece commissioned. The painting hung above the space where formal academic ceremonies were held, known today as the Throne Room (Salón del Trono). Minerva, the goddess of wisdom and medicine, shows Sertorius the octogonal plan for the university that Francisco José de Artiga designed and built in the late 17th century. It is a pictorial representation of a Huescan myth about Sertorius, which dates the founding of the university back to the 1st century BCE. As told by Plutarch in his Parallel Lives (a collection of biographies of famous Greek and Roman soldiers and other figures), Quintus Sertorius founded a school in Osca (now Huesca) around 77 BCE. He wanted to teach his allies' children Greek and Latin to gain their support.