An Episode from the Life of Publius Cornelius Scipio

The painting was probably commissioned in 1505 by Cardinal Marco Cornaro for the studiolo of his brother Francesco Cornaro's palace in San Polo, Venice, though it was originally intended for Andrea Mantegna, who only completed a companion piece before his death in 1506. Giovanni Bellini, then elderly, took over the commission, executing it in grisaille around 1506–1508. After remaining with the Cornaro family, the work reappeared in 1873 when Sir John Charles Robinson sold it to Sir Francis Cook, 1st Bt., at Doughty House, Richmond.

It descended through three generations of Cooks until Sir Francis Ferdinand Maurice Cook sold it in February 1948 to Gualtiero Volterra, agent for Count Alessandro Contini Bonacossi of Florence. The Kress Foundation acquired it in March 1949 and gifted it to the National Gallery of Art in 1952.

The painting is held by the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C., as part of the Samuel H. Kress Collection. It was given to the NGA in 1952 by the Samuel H. Kress Foundation, which had acquired it in March 1949 from Count Alessandro Contini Bonacossi of Florence, who had purchased it in February 1948 through his London agent Gualtiero Volterra from Sir Francis Ferdinand Maurice Cook, 4th Bt., at Doughty House, Richmond, and Cothay Manor, Somerset. It had descended through the Cook family after Sir Francis Cook, 1st Bt., acquired it in 1873 from Sir John Charles Robinson, and is documented as no. 133 in Maurice Brockwell's 1932 abridged catalogue of Doughty House. The painting's documented exhibition history includes "Mantegna and Bellini."

The painting represents a significant late-career intersection between Giovanni Bellini and Andrea Mantegna, whose early training had been shared. Roberto Longhi (1951) reconnected the work with Mantegna's 'The Introduction of the Cult of Cybele at Rome,' proposing they formed a planned series for Francesco Cornaro's studiolo, though documentary evidence remains lacking. Longhi also suggested two smaller grisaille works by Mantegna ('Sofonisba' and 'Tuccia') as possible companions, but scholars note the discrepancy in supports, canvas versus panel, makes this hypothesis improbable.

Art historically, the work demonstrates Bellini's divergence from Mantegna's rigid classicism: despite employing the grisaille format associated with his brother-in-law, Bellini introduced softer, more enveloping chiaroscuro and greater figural animation, incorporating Giorgione's innovations while resisting Dürer's influence. The peripheral figures are attributed to Bellini's workshop. Scholars emphasize this commission as the final professional convergence of two artists whose careers had diverged substantially by the early sixteenth century.

Giovanni Bellini's oil on canvas painting, known as An Episode from the Life of Publius Cornelius Scipio, was completed between 1507 and 1508. This Renaissance work, currently housed at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C., portrays a significant event from ancient Roman history. The composition reflects the artist's engagement with classical narratives, presenting a detailed visual account of a celebrated general's actions.