1706
oil
canvas
From the collection of Art Institute of Chicago
The Continence of Scipio is a 1706 oil by Sebastiano Ricci, a Baroque work, depicting Aeneas, held at Art Institute of Chicago.
You see a Roman general, Scipio, standing with a woman and a kneeling man. He's showing restraint by not taking the woman as a captive of war. This scene is based on a story where the woman's fiancé, the kneeling man, is a powerful prince who later allies with Scipio. You can learn more about this style by looking at the work of artist Sebastiano Ricci.
This painting depicts a scene from the life of Scipio Africanus, the Roman general who defeated Hannibal in the Battle of Zama (in present-day Tunisia) in 202 BCE. Here Scipio demonstrates his leadership by acting with restraint (“continence”) in refusing to hold a woman as a captive of war. According to the story on which the painting is based, the woman’s fiancé, shown kneeling beside her, was a powerful prince who agreed to a military alliance with Scipio in gratitude for his lenience. The theatrical setting and costumes—the invented military helmets, anachronistically dressed characters,…
Probably Mr. Oliver, Castle Oliver, County Limerick, Ireland, by 1776 [The Continence of Scipio was mentioned with other paintings by Ricci in Arthur Young’s Tour of Ireland (1776-1779); probably by descent to Edith Jane Thomasina Morris of Dunkathal, County Cork,who married Sir George Colthurst of Blarney Castle in 1881 (letter of Margaret Lantry dated 11 November, 2008 and of Sir Charles Colthurst of 8 September 2003 in curatorial file); by descent to Sir Richard St. John Jefferyes Colthurst, 8th Bt., Blarney Castle, Cork, Ireland; sold Sotheby’s, 27 February 1952, lot 141, to David M.…
New York, NY, Finch College Museum of Art, A Loan Exhibition of Venetian Baroque Paintings, 1964, no. 49. Memphis, TN, Brooks Memorial Art Gallery / Lexington, KY, University of Kentucky Art Gallery, Sebastiano and Marco Ricci in America, December 19, 1965 - January 23, 1966 / February 13 - March 6, 1966, no. 8. Norfolk, VA, Norfolk Museum of Arts and Sciences, Italian Renaissance and Baroque Paintings from the Collection of Walter P. Chrysler, Jr., December 2, 1967 - May 15, 1968, no. 51. London, P & D Colnaghi & Co., Ltd., Paintings by Old Masters, October 21 - November 7, 1969, no. 18.…
Read the full account in the museum source.
Sebastiano Ricci (1 August 1659 – 15 May 1734) was an Italian Baroque painter of the late Baroque period in Venetian painting.
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