An Episode from the Life of Publius Cornelius Scipio

after 1506

Giovanni Bellini

Artist, Venetian, c. 1430/1435 - 1516

Men and women line up to either side of a man seated on a throne in this long, horizontal painting. The people are painted in shades of white and gray so they resemble marble statues against a background streaked with rust red and gray, resembling marble. About a third of the way into the composition from the left, the throne is atop a three-stepped platform. A cleanshaven man sits on the throne facing our right in profile. He has short, curly hair and wears a toga under a breastplate. He lifts one hand, the forefinger slightly extended, and his lips are parted. The side of the throne we see is in the shape of a creature with a person’s face, chest and front legs of a lion, tail of a serpent, and wings. A greyhound-like dog sits on the first of the three steps. Some of the dozen men lined up to the left of the throne wear armor and hold lances or daggers. One man stands with one hand across his chest and the other across his groin. Another man stands with his back to us, one ankle crossed in front of the other. Sixteen men and women and three horses stand in a line to the right of the throne. Two women are near the front of the line. The one closest to the throne holds an urn. A man just behind her holds a larger urn propped up on one shoulder. The other men wear armor or togas. One man is half again as tall as anyone else. A rectangular plaque just to the right of the throne appears to be carved with the words, “TVRPIVS IMPER VENERE Q AR MIS VINCI.”

Media Options

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On View

West Building Ground Floor, Gallery G16

Artwork overview

  • Medium

    oil on canvas

  • Credit Line

    Samuel H. Kress Collection

  • Dimensions

    overall: 74.8 x 356.2 cm (29 7/16 x 140 1/4 in.)
    framed: 104.1 x 385.1 x 10.5 cm (41 x 151 5/8 x 4 1/8 in.)

  • Accession

    1952.2.7

Artwork history & notes

Provenance

Probably commissioned by Francesco Cornaro, Palazzo Corner-Mocenigo a San Polo, Venice. Sir John Charles Robinson [1824-1913], London; sold 1873 to Sir Francis Cook, 1st Bt. [1817-1901], Doughty House, Richmond, Surrey;[1] by inheritance to his son, Sir Frederick Lucas Cook, 2nd Bt. [1844-1920], Doughty House; by inheritance to his son, Sir Herbert Frederick Cook, 3rd Bt. [1868-1939], Doughty House; by inheritance to his son, Sir Francis Ferdinand Maurice Cook, 4th Bt. [1907-1978], Doughty House, and Cothay Manor, Somerset; sold February 1948 to (Gualtiero Volterra, London) for (Count Alessandro Contini Bonacossi, Florence);[2] sold March 1949 to the Samuel H. Kress Foundation, New York;[3] gift 1952 to NGA.
[1] Maurice Brockwell, Abridged Catalogue of the Pictures at Doughty House, Richmond, Surrey, in the Collection of Sir Herbert Cook, London, 1932: no. 133.
[2] See copies of correspondence in NGA curatorial files, from the Cook Collection Archive in care of John Somerville, England. Volterra was Contini-Bonacossi's agent in London.
[3] The Kress Foundation made an offer to Contini Bonacossi on 4 March 1949 for a group of twenty-one paintings, including the Bellini; the offer was accepted on 10 March 1949 (see copies of correspondence in NGA curatorial files, see also The Kress Collection Digital Archive, https://kress.nga.gov/Detail/objects/225).

Associated Names

Exhibition History

2006

  • Bellini, Giorgione, Titian, and the Renaissance of Venetian Painting, National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.; Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna, 2006-2007, no. 28, repro., as The Continence of Publius Cornelius Scipio.

2008

  • Giovanni Bellini, Scuderie del Quirinale, Rome, 2008-2009, no. 54, repro.

2011

  • Antico: The Golden Age of Renaissance Bronzes, National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.; The Frick Collection, New York, 2011-2012, not in catalogue (shown only in Washington).

2018

  • Mantegna and Bellini, The National Gallery, London; Gemäldegalerie, Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, 2018-2019, fig. 246.

Bibliography

1932

  • Brockwell, Maurice W. Abridged Catalogue of the Pictures at Doughty House, Richmond, Surrey, in the Collection of Sir Herbert Cook. London, 1932: no. 133.

1951

  • Paintings and Sculpture from the Kress Collection Acquired by the Samuel H. Kress Foundation 1945-1951. Introduction by John Walker, text by William E. Suida. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1951: 82, no. 30, repro.

1952

  • Frankfurter, Alfred M. "Interpreting Masterpieces: Twenty-four Paintings from the Kress Collection." Art News Annual 16 (1952): 92-97, repro. 93

1959

  • Paintings and Sculpture from the Samuel H. Kress Collection. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1959: 144, repro.

1965

  • Summary Catalogue of European Paintings and Sculpture. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1965: 12.

1968

  • National Gallery of Art. European Paintings and Sculpture, Illustrations. Washington, 1968: 5, repro.

  • Shapley, Fern Rusk. Paintings from the Samuel H. Kress Collection: Italian Schools, XV-XVI Century. London, 1968: 42, fig. 99.

1972

  • Fredericksen, Burton B., and Federico Zeri. Census of Pre-Nineteenth Century Italian Paintings in North American Public Collections. Cambridge, MA, 1972: 23, 647, as Continence of Scipio?

1975

  • European Paintings: An Illustrated Summary Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1975: 22, repro.

1979

  • Shapley, Fern Rusk. Catalogue of the Italian Paintings. 2 vols. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1979: 1:52-54; 2:pl. 29.

1985

  • European Paintings: An Illustrated Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1985: 42, repro.

1992

  • Tempestini, Anchise. Giovanni Bellini: catalogo completo dei dipinti. Florence, 1992: 265-267, no. 94, color repro.

1994

  • Turner, Nicholas. The Study of Italian Drawings: The Contribution of Philip Pouncey. Exh. cat. British Museum, London, 1994: no. 21.

2004

  • Santucci, Paola. Su Andrea Mantegna. Naples, 2004: 212.

2008

  • Bacchi, Andrea and Luciana Giacomelli, eds Rinascimento e passione per l'antico: Andrea Riccio e il suo tempo. Exh. cat. Castello di Buonconsiglio. Trento, 2008: 476.

  • Bellosi, Luciano. “Giovanni Bellini et Andrea Mantegna.” In Giovanni Agosti and Dominique Thiébaut, eds. Mantegna 1431 - 1506. Exh. cat. Musée du Louvre, Paris, 2008: 109.

2009

  • Christiansen, Keith. "Facts and Love: The Tender Power of Giovanni Bellini." The New Republic 240, no. 6 (April 15, 2009): 29.

2013

  • Lucco, Mauro. Mantegna. Milan, 2013: 360.

2019

  • Lucco, Mauro, Peter Humfrey, and Giovanni C.F. Villa. Giovanni Bellini: Catalogo ragionato. Treviso, 2019: 563-565, cat. 178.

  • Spicer, Joaneath. "The Abduction of Helen: A Monumental Series Celebrating the Wedding of Caterina Corner in 1468." The Journal of the Walters Art Museum 74 (2019): fig. 5.

Inscriptions

upper center on plaque: TVRPIVS / IMPER / VENERE / .Q. A. / MIS AI

Wikidata ID

Q658825

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