The Generosity of Scipio

In his legendary history of Rome Ab urbe condita XXVI:50, Titus Livius tells of an event that occurred during the Roman campaign against the Carthaginians in Spain. After the conquest of New Carthage (Cartagena), the victorious general Publius Cornelius Scipio (Africanus maior, circa 235–183 BCE) encountered a prisoner, a virgin of extraordinary beauty. Asking about her origins, Scipio learned that she was bethrothed to Allucius, one of the noblest youths among the Celtiberians. The general, then, summoned her parents and her bridegroom, assuring them that her girl’s purity had been respected, and granting her freedom. All he asked in turn was that Allucius shall become a friend of the Roman state. He refused the precious gifts offered him by the girl’s parents, bestowing them on the young couple as wedding presents. Moved by Scipio’s goodness and generosity, Allucius made good on its promise, subordinating himself to the command of the Roman general. In his picture, Restout adheres closely to the literary source, depicting the highpoint of the narrative. The Romans have pitched their camp before the walls of the defeated city. The general stands on a platform with several steps under a tent roof, his figure emphasised by a crimson cloak. Allucius, filled with gratitude, kneels before him, grasping the general’s right hand with both of his own, while the general gestures towards the bride on the right, who is clad in white. On the right-hand side of the picture, the parents, with imploring gestures, offer Scipio precious gifts, which are positioned in front of the general at the centre of the picture like a splendid still-life. The stage-style structure, the gestures of the figures, and the theatrical direction of the scene focus all of our attention on the principle protagonists. The composition adheres entirely to the classical rules of French history painting. The main actors press forward from left to right, heightening the drama through their gestures and movements, the climax being the figure of the general, the most important figure in the story. The distribution of the local colours red, blue, and white support the clear organisation. Given the beholder’s lowered viewpoint, and background is barely perceptible. The moralising tendency of the picture can hardly be overlooked. Through his renunciation of the prisoner, Scipio demonstrates his genuine magnanimity, which makes him the embodiment of the virtuous ruler. For this reason, Restout has chosen not simply to depict an event from Roman history, but instead to visualise exemplary human conduct. He was able to draw upon great models from the 17th century. In 1660/61, in the great painting of The Family of Darius before Alexander (Versailles, Musée National), Charles Lebrun (1619–90) had chosen the theme as a metaphor for the generosity of a ruler. Pierre Mignard (1612–95) and Jean Jouvenet (1644–1717), a veteran former teacher of Restout, developed this concept further with important stylistic modifications. Restout’s version irreversibly translates the Baroque pathos of the 17th century into the elegance and colouristic splendour of the early Rococo. Actually, Restout was a church painter who produced very few history paintings, among them the great Triumph of Bacchus, commissioned by Frederick the Great in 1755 for the decoration of the Marmorsaal in the Neues Palais in Potsdam.The Magnanimity of Scipio once formed the counterpart to Hector’s Departure from Andromache, which was exhibited at the salon of 1727. Both pictures remained together until the Calonne Collection was auctioned in Paris in 1788. While the companion painting itself has been lost, its composition survives through a copy in Halle. By juxtaposing the two themes, Restout further deepened the fundamental ideas of virtuous and heroic action. Hennig Bock | 200 Masterpieces of European Painting - Gemäldegalerie Berlin, 2019SIGNATURE / INSCRIPTION: Inscription lower right on a stone: Restout / 1728