The Continence of Scipio

Allucius was a prince of the Celtiberi people of northern Europe around the 3rd century BC. The story told of him by Livy and other writers was that he was betrothed to a beautiful virgin who was taken prisoner by Scipio Africanus in Spain in 209 BC. The woman's fiance, who soon married her, naturally brought over his tribe to support the Roman armies. Scipio returned her to Allucius, and refused the presents her parents offered him.

This episode was a popular motif for exemplary literature and art during the Renaissance up through the 19th century. Numerous versions of The Continence of Scipio were created, depicting the mercy and sexual restraint of Scipio while he had Allucius's fiancee in his power, by artists such as Andrea Mantegna, Nicholas Poussin, Giovanni Antonio Pellegrini, Frans Floris, Baciccio, and Karel van Mander.

Versions

• The Continence of Scipio by Nicolò dell'Abbate (1555), Louvre Museum
• The Continence of Scipio by Joseph-Marie Vien, Musée Granet (with another version in the royal house of Warsaw)
• The Continence of Scipio by François Lemoyne (1726), Musée des Beaux-Arts, Nancy
• The Continence of Scipio by Pompeo Batoni (1771 or 1772), Hermitage Museum
• Scipio receives Allucius, by Victor Honoré Janssens, Louvre
• The Continence of Scipio by Paul Chenavard (1848), Musée des Beaux-Arts, Lyon
• The Continence of Scipio by Jean-Germain Drouais (1784), Musée des Beaux-Arts, Rennes
• The Continence of Scipio by Gerbrand van den Eeckhout (1669), Musée des Beaux-Arts, Lille
• The Continence of Scipio by Pietro Francesco Guala (1750), Musée départemental de l'Oise, Beauvais
• The Continence of Scipio, by Lambert Lombard (1547), Musée des Beaux-Arts, Rennes
• The Continence of Scipio by Nicolaes Cornelisz Moeyaert (17th century), Musée des Beaux-Arts de Caen
• The Continence of Scipio by Giambattista Pittoni (1733), Louvre
• The Continence of Scipio, by Nicolas Poussin (1645), Louvre
• The Continence of Scipio by Pieter Josef Verhaghen (1781), Musée des Beaux-Arts, Valenciennes
• The Continence of Scipio by Sebastiano Ricci (1706), Art Institute of Chicago
• The Clemency of Scipio by Michele Rocca (1720), Louvre
• The Clemency of Scipio by Giulio Romano (1688), Louvre

References

 This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Smith, William, ed. (1870). Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology. {{cite encyclopedia}}: Missing or empty |title= (help)