Login
Sign up

Send the page
Go to the forum
 
French
   USA > Chicago > Art Institute of Chicago > Italy1700s > The Continence of Scipio
The Continence of Scipio

The Continence of Scipio





Relationship with : Tite-Live

Date : near 1706

Material : Oil on canvas
Acquisition : Preston O. Morton Memorial Fund (1970)
Art Institute of Chicago
Italy1700s
First Level - Section 218
Item 15 on 21
European Painting
Painting

Area related
Italy

Description   

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.

More pictures   
Item(s) related   
Art Institute of Chicago :
European 1400s
The Continence of Scipio
Thème historique
Appolonio di Giovanni et Marco del Buono Giamberti
Sizes : 1.28 m wide
near 1455

Louvre Museum :
Collection Fabrizio et Fiammetta Lemme
La Continence de Scipion
La Clémence de Scipion
Thème historique
Michele Rocca
Sizes : 88 cm x 135 cm
near 1720
La Continence de Scipion
La Clémence de Scipion
Thème historique
Michele Rocca
Sizes : 24 cm x 35 cm
near 1720
Collection Othon Kaufmann et François Schlageter
La Continence de Scipion
Thème historique
Giovanni Battista Pittoni
Sizes : 56 cm x 96 cm
approx. from 1733 to 1735
Galerie Scipion
La Continence de Scipion
L'Histoire de Scipion
Tenture
Renaissance
Giulio Pippi et Manufacture de Gobelins
from 1688 to 1689
La peinture en Lombardie, à Rome, en Toscane et en Emilie au XVIème siècle - III
La Continence de Scipion
Thème historique
Nicolo dell'Abate
Sizes : 1.28 m x 1.15 m
near 1555
Related article(s)   













The Continence of Scipio
Sebastiano Ricci
Cornelius Scipio Aemilianus (Scipion l'Africain le Jeune)
Tite-Live