The Continence of Scipio

Giambattista Pittoni's The Continence of Scipio, painted in 1733 and held in the Louvre, depicts the celebrated episode from ancient Roman history in which the general Scipio Africanus, after capturing Cartagena, returned a beautiful captive to her betrothed rather than claim her as a war prize. The subject was standard for demonstrating virtuous self-restraint and noble generosity, popular throughout the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. Pittoni was the leading Venetian history painter of the early Rococo, and this canvas shows his characteristic combination of antique grandeur and Venetian coloristic richness. His work was collected by European monarchs from Vienna to Stockholm.

Pittoni organizes the scene around the central act of restitution, Scipio at left presenting the kneeling captive to her fiancé at right. Figures are arranged in a broad frieze across a classical architectural backdrop. The palette deploys rich reds and blues against warm stone tones with typical Venetian luminosity.