Scanned from a transparency, then color corrected by Pat Cagney.

The Continence of Scipio

Artist Guiseppe Maria Crespi (Italian, 1665-1747)

CultureItalian

Dateca. 1700

MediumOil on canvas

DimensionsOverall: 86 7/8 x 66 in. (220.7 x 167.6 cm)
Overall, Frame: 104 x 86 in. (264.2 x 218.4 cm)

Credit LineGift of Walter P. Chrysler, Jr.

Object number71.543

Collections

European Art before 1945

On View

Chrysler Museum of Art, Gallery 205

DescriptionThis is a large oil on canvas painting. A historical picture referring to the generosity of Scipio Africanus the Elder, a Roman general. He is seated in the center in Roman armor and flowing red cloth. A Celtiberian princess, who was captured in the fall of New Carthage, offers him gifts from her parents for returning her unharmed. He leans to one side and points in the opposite direction at a young girl, gesturing his refusal of the treasure, decreeing instead that it serve as her dowry. Her suitor steps out of the shadows on the left. She is richly dressed in shimmery fabric - red and gold with a blue cloth about her head. Other figures sit mutely in the background. Instruments spill into the left foreground as if dropped for a moment.

Label TextGiuseppe Maria Crespi Italian, 1665–1747 The Continence of Scipio, ca. 1700 Oil on canvas With loose brushstrokes and flashing colors, Giuseppe Maria Crespi invigorates this historical scene, his life-size figures emerging from darkness like jewels coming into sight. The Roman general Scipio Africanus (236–183 B.C.E.) sits at the center of this scene, but his noble spirit is the painting’s subject. Having defeated the Carthaginians, Scipio receives the spoils of war, which includes the beautiful princess kneeling before him. The general leans away from the woman in a gesture of humility, causing shadows to hide his face. Inviting the woman’s fiancée to enter the scene, Scipio directs him toward the princess and the treasure held in her arms. Instead of keeping the treasure—meant to thank the general for sparing the princess—Scipio offers it as dowry to her betrothed. Gift of Walter P. Chrysler, Jr. 71.543 ProvenanceCount Antonio Colato, Bologna, ca. 1730; Bertolini coll., San Remo, 1953; Gift of Walter P. Chrysler, Jr., 1971. Exhibition History"Paintings from Private Collections," Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York City, Summer 1956. "Paintings from the Collection of Walter P. Chrysler, Jr.," Portland Art Museum, Oregon, March 2 - April 15, 1956; Seattle Art Museum, Seattle, Washington, April 27 - May 27, 1956; California Palace of the Legion of Honor, San Francisco, June 12 - July 11, 1956; Los Angeles County Museum, July 26 - August 26, 1956; Minneapolis Institute of Art, Minnesota, Sept. 8 - Oct. 7, 1956; City Art Museum, St. Louis, Missouri, Oct. 19 - Nov. 18, 1956; William Rockhill Nelson Gallery of Art, Kansas City, Missouri, Nov. 30, 1956 - Jan. 2, 1957; Detroit Institute of Art, Michigan, Jan. 18 - Feb. 17, 1957; Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, March - April 14, 1957. (Exhib. cat. no. 44). "Baroque Painters of Bologna," Finch College Museum of Art, New York City, 1962. (Exhib. cat. no. 30). "Baroque Paintings from the Collection of Walter P. Chrysler, Jr.," Bowdoin College, Brunswick, Maine, 1963. (Exhib. cat. no. 3). "Art in Italy, 1600-1700," The Detroit Institute of Arts, 1965. (Exhib. cat. no. 118). "Italian Renaissance and Baroque Paintings from the Collection of Walter P. Chrysler, Jr.," Norfolk Museum of Arts and Sciences, Dec. 2, 1967 - May 15, 1968. (Exhib. cat. no. 53). "Gods and Heroes, Baroque Images of Antiquity," Wildenstein Gallery, New York City, 1968-1969. (Exhib. cat. no. 13). "Painting in Italy in the Eighteenth Century," The Art Institute of Chicago, The Minneapolis Institute of Arts, The Toledo Museum, 1970-1971. (Exhib. cat. no. 47). "Veronese to Franz Kline: Masterworks from the Chrysler Museum at Norfolk," for the benefit of The Chrysler Museum Art Reference Library, Wildenstein & Co., New York, N. Y., April 13 - May 13, 1978. Published ReferencesBertina S. Manning. _Paintings from the Collection of Walter P. Chrysler, Jr.: An Exhibition Organized by the Portland Art Museum, Oregon_. Portland: Portland Art Association. 1956. No. 44. Robert L. Manning. _Italian Renaissance and Baroque Paintings from the Collection of Walter P. Chrysler, Jr._. Norfolk: Norfolk Museum of Arts and Science. 1967. No. 53. Eric M. Zafran and Mario Amaya, _Veronese to Franz Kline: Masterworks from the Chrysler Museum at Norfolk_, exh. cat., Chrysler Museum, Norfolk, Va., 1978, no. 9. _The Chrysler Museum: Selections from the Permanent Collection, Norfolk, Virginia_ (Norfolk: Chrysler Museum, 1982). _Giuseppe Maria Crespi and the Emergence of Genre Painting in Italy_, exhibition catalogue, Kimbell Art Museum, Fort Worth, 1986, no. 6. Jefferson C. Harrison, _The Chrysler Museum Handbook of the European and American Collections: Selected Paintings, Sculpture and Drawings_. The Chrysler Museum, Norfolk, VA, 1991, 62, #47. George Knox. "The Collection of Ercole Giusti at Verona," _Estratto da Verona Illustrata, Rivista del Museo di Castelvecchio_. no. 10. Stamperia Valdonega-Arbizzano (Verona). 1997:23-39. No. 37, 37, Ill. No. 36, n.p. Sergio Marinelli and Angelo Mazza. _La Pittura Emiliana nel Veneto_. Banca Popolare di Verona - Banco S. Geminiano e S. Prospero. 1999: 219, fig. 11 Zdenek Kazlepka, "Z korespondence Giuseppa Marii Crespiho zvaneho Lo Spagnolo Antoniu Rambaldovi hrabeti Collalto e San Salvatore (1722 - 1734)" _Umeni_ (2006), 261 - 266. ISSN: 0049 5123 Jeff Harrison, _Collecting with Vision: Treasures From the Chrysler Museum of Art_ (London: D. Giles Ltd., 2007), 33, fig. 26. ISBN: 978-0-940744-72-1