Date : near 1706
Material : Oil on canvas
Acquisition : Preston O. Morton Memorial Fund (1970)
| Item 15 on 21
European Painting
Painting (Thème historique)
Area related
Italy
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| Description |  |
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In 210 B.C., when Rome and the African city of Carthage fought for supremacy in the Western Mediterranean, the youthful Roman commander Scipio captured the main Carthaginian base in Spain (present - day Cartagena). To gain the allegiance of the local aristocracy for Rome, Scipio restored eminent captives to their families. This fact evolved into the legend - the subject of this painting - that he relinquished a beautiful prisoner to her fiancé, as a magnanimous act of sexual renunciation.
Between 1700 and 1709, after more than three decades of artistic activity, Ricci succeeded in synthesizing a multitude of influences into a new, lively style characterized by brilliant light and color, sparkling brushwork, languid elegance, and delight in tasteful eroticism. His innovative work was one of the earliest manifestations of Rococo painting, which became the dominant style throughout Europe for much of the eighteenth century.
Ricci's first full use of this novel style occurred in a cycle of frescoes at the Palazzo Marucelli (now the university) in Florence, securely dated 1706/07. That commission includes a version of "The continence of Scipio" very similar to the present painting, which is therefore believed to be contemporaneous. Ricci created six known variations on this theme.
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