Cimon und Pero (nach)

Cimon und Pero (nach), meaning 'Cimon and Pero (after [Honthorst]),' dated 1624 and held in the Bavarian State Painting Collections, depicts the ancient Roman story of Pero nursing her imprisoned father Cimon at her own breast — a tale of filial devotion celebrated in ancient texts and known in Renaissance and Baroque art as Caritas Romana (Roman Charity). The subject had obvious appeal to an era that valued classical exempla of virtue, but its combination of an elderly man nursing at a young woman's breast also carried an erotic frisson that complicated its pious interpretation. The 'nach' (after) designation indicates this is a version made after Honthorst's original, suggesting the composition was popular enough to generate workshop or follower copies. The Bavarian State Painting Collections hold numerous examples of this type of workshop replication.

The candlelight treatment typical of Honthorst's nocturnal genre scenes would be particularly appropriate here: the prison setting, the secrecy of the act of charity, and the intimacy of the figures all suit the warm, enclosed atmosphere his artificial light creates. The composition centres the interlocked figures in a tight, almost sculptural group that focuses on the contrast between the aged, weakened father and the vital, compassionate daughter.