The Continence of Scipio
Artist
Sebastiano Ricci
Italian, 1659–1734
Datecirca 1708–1710
MediumOil on canvas
Dimensions76 x 96 in. (193 x 243.8 cm)
Frame: 78 1/4 x 99 1/4 x 3 in. (198.8 x 252.1 x 7.6 cm)
Frame: 78 1/4 x 99 1/4 x 3 in. (198.8 x 252.1 x 7.6 cm)
ClassificationsPaintings
Credit LinePurchased with funds from the State of North Carolina
Object number52.9.164
On View
Not on viewThe legendary act of clemency depicted here was described by the ancient Roman historian Livy and remained a popular theme for artists through the eighteenth century. After capturing a Carthaginian city, the Roman general Scipio received a beautiful maiden as a prize of war. Learning that the girl was betrothed, Scipio summoned her fiancé and restored her to him unharmed, using the occasion to deliver a short sermon on Roman moral virtue. The golden vessels, which Scipio returned to the couple as a wedding present, had been intended as a ransom for the maiden.
Ricci’s pendant (companion piece) to this painting, The Family of Darius before Alexander, is also in the Museum’s collection.
ProvenanceAdmiral Hall, South Ash [probably Saltash], Cornwall; sold Christie's July 14, 1950; with David M. Koetser, New York, NY; sold to NCMA, 1952.Published ReferencesW. R. Valentiner, Catalogue of Paintings: Including Three Sets of Tapestries (Raleigh: North Carolina Museum of Art, 1956), no. 195.
Brooks Memorial Art Gallery, Memphis, TN, Sebastiano and Marco Ricci in America, 1965-66, cat. no. 62, illus. 51, (catalogue only, not included in exhibition).
Jeffrey Daniels, Sebastiano Ricci (Sussex: Wayland Publishers, 1976), 103-104, illus. fig. 209.
Edgar Peters Bowron, ed., Introduction to the Collections (Chapel Hill: published for the North Carolina Museum of Art, Raleigh, by The University of North Carolina Press, 1992), illus. (b-w) 204.
Art Taylor, "Museum Loans," Preview: The Magazine of the North Carolina Museum of Art (March/April 2002), mentioned 7.
Exhibition HistoryWilmington, NC, Louise Wells Cameron Art Museum, "Eighteenth Century Paintings and Sculptures From the North Carolina Museum of Art," April 21, 2002 – March 30, 2003.
Raleigh, NC, North Carolina Museum of Art, "The People's Collection Reimagined," July 8, 2024-December 15, 2025. Object Rights Statement
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