DOI issue:
No. 1
DOI article:Stechow, Wolfgang: Addenda to "The Love of Antiochus with Faire Stratonica"
DOI Page / Citation link: https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.17159#0010
teenth century, when its pictorial treatment reached a belated climax in some of tlie most signi-
ficant works of Jean-Dominique Ingres".
„What has hitherto been referred to as the story of Antiochus and Stratonice proves to be
a number of variations — however closely intenelated — on a theme which we may never
know in its original form. According to the oldcst preserved source, Valerius Maximus2, the
salient elements of the tale are these. The prince Antiochus is Lt the point of death as a result of
his strenuous efforts to overcome his passion for his stepmother Stratonice. His father, King
Seleucus, unaware of the cause of his son's ailement, despairs of his life. The denouement
is due to the mathematician Leptines, or, 'ut cjuidam tradunt', the physician Erasistratus.
Seated beside the bed of the prince and watching him closely, he observes that as Stratonice
enters and leaves feeling his pulse stealthily, he finds it acting in a similar fashion. Thus infor-
med of the naturę of Antiochus' malady, he immediately communicates his knowledge to Seleucus,
who then cedes his wife to his son in order to save the latter's life. The story is here related and
coupled with similar tales — as an exemplum of the love of a parent that conąuers even the
greatest obstacles".
It is unnecessary here to dwell upon the variants of the story found with Plutarch and some
other writers, or upon its possible historical authenticity. Suffice it to say that none of
the ancient reports imply that Stratonice was earnestly in love with Antiochus. This
decisive factor did not enter until our story (which had practically no medieval history)
was revived in the Renaissance. It was Petrarch who in a beautiful and noble passage of his
Triumph of Love introduced the idea of chaste Stratonice's love for her stepson, and set the
pace for all later treatments of the tale3.
The painting in the Poznań Museum (fig. I)1 is an exact replica, perhaps only a copy, of
a panel in the Museum in Schwerin which is signed by Gerard de Lairesse and dated 1673 (fig. 2)5.
A. closely related painting which belongs to the Kijksmuseum in Amsterdam (fig. 3)6 differs
from the Schwerin — Poznań version in details only, such as the addition of a page busying
himself with the vessel at tb.3 right, and a few other rather insignificant alterations. We must also
consider the same artist's painting in the Kunsthalle in Karlsruhe (fig. 4)7, a much larger and
morę ambitious canvas, because it is this composition which was honored by an entłmsiastic des-
cription and analysis by no less a person than Johann Joachim Winckelmann — the only
exact analysis of an individual painting he ever produced8. On the other hand, his most impor-
tant observations are almost eąually pertinent to the smaller version before us; in fact, it was
for a long time thought that Winckelmann had the latter in mind when he write his descri-
ption9, and I therefore quote it at some length.
„The main personage in the picture, Stratonice, is its noblest figurę —a figurę which
would do honor to a master of the school of Raphael. With slow and halting steps, the most
beautiful queen — 'Colle sub Idaeo vincere digna deas' — approaches the bed of her destined
new spouse though as yet with the countenance of a mother or rather of a holy vestal. In her
2. Facta et dicta memorabilia,lib. 5, cap. 7, ext. 1 („Dc patrum amore ct indulgentia in liberos").
3. Francesco Petrarca, Le Rime sparse e i Trionfi, ed. Ezio Chicrboli. Bari. 1930. pp. 310—311.
4. Inv. n° Mo 837; unsigned, on panel, 31,5 by 46,5 cm. Malarstwa Holenderskie XVII—XVIII iv., Poznań, 1958, n° 77,
iii. 62.
5. Cat. 1951, n° 147; exactly the same size as the Poznań picture.
6. Cat. 1920,n° 1406; panel, 31 by 47 cm. At present on Ioan to the Institut Nćerlandais in Paris. Contrary to St. (note 46)
signed ,,G. Lairesse inv ftcit". A corresponding drawingis in the Louyre (Cat. Lugt 1929,11 394). I do not know the ver-
sion in the Museum in Oldenburg, Cat. 1902, n° 238. A water-color copy of the Amsterdam picture by Aert
Schouman (dated 1773) is in the Chr. P. van Eeghen Collection (Exh. Amsterdam 1958, n° 95).
7. Cat. 1920, n° 241, unsigned, canvas, 87 by 100 cm . Hallandische Meisler ans der Staatlichen Kunsthalle in Karlsruhe, 1960,
n° 49, with bibliography. Bought in 1769. In spite of some uncertainties concerning its history, it is probable that this
picture is the same which was described by W inekelmi!i:n.
8. Sendschreiben iiber die Gedanken ran der Naehahmung der grieehistl.tr. Wnkt (fect c to the secerd editicn cf tln Gedankeri),
Dresden, 1756, pp. 26 ff.; Werke, ed. CL. Fcrnow, Dresdcn, 1818 I, pp. 98 ff.
9. See St., Appendix I, p- 236 f.
4
ficant works of Jean-Dominique Ingres".
„What has hitherto been referred to as the story of Antiochus and Stratonice proves to be
a number of variations — however closely intenelated — on a theme which we may never
know in its original form. According to the oldcst preserved source, Valerius Maximus2, the
salient elements of the tale are these. The prince Antiochus is Lt the point of death as a result of
his strenuous efforts to overcome his passion for his stepmother Stratonice. His father, King
Seleucus, unaware of the cause of his son's ailement, despairs of his life. The denouement
is due to the mathematician Leptines, or, 'ut cjuidam tradunt', the physician Erasistratus.
Seated beside the bed of the prince and watching him closely, he observes that as Stratonice
enters and leaves feeling his pulse stealthily, he finds it acting in a similar fashion. Thus infor-
med of the naturę of Antiochus' malady, he immediately communicates his knowledge to Seleucus,
who then cedes his wife to his son in order to save the latter's life. The story is here related and
coupled with similar tales — as an exemplum of the love of a parent that conąuers even the
greatest obstacles".
It is unnecessary here to dwell upon the variants of the story found with Plutarch and some
other writers, or upon its possible historical authenticity. Suffice it to say that none of
the ancient reports imply that Stratonice was earnestly in love with Antiochus. This
decisive factor did not enter until our story (which had practically no medieval history)
was revived in the Renaissance. It was Petrarch who in a beautiful and noble passage of his
Triumph of Love introduced the idea of chaste Stratonice's love for her stepson, and set the
pace for all later treatments of the tale3.
The painting in the Poznań Museum (fig. I)1 is an exact replica, perhaps only a copy, of
a panel in the Museum in Schwerin which is signed by Gerard de Lairesse and dated 1673 (fig. 2)5.
A. closely related painting which belongs to the Kijksmuseum in Amsterdam (fig. 3)6 differs
from the Schwerin — Poznań version in details only, such as the addition of a page busying
himself with the vessel at tb.3 right, and a few other rather insignificant alterations. We must also
consider the same artist's painting in the Kunsthalle in Karlsruhe (fig. 4)7, a much larger and
morę ambitious canvas, because it is this composition which was honored by an entłmsiastic des-
cription and analysis by no less a person than Johann Joachim Winckelmann — the only
exact analysis of an individual painting he ever produced8. On the other hand, his most impor-
tant observations are almost eąually pertinent to the smaller version before us; in fact, it was
for a long time thought that Winckelmann had the latter in mind when he write his descri-
ption9, and I therefore quote it at some length.
„The main personage in the picture, Stratonice, is its noblest figurę —a figurę which
would do honor to a master of the school of Raphael. With slow and halting steps, the most
beautiful queen — 'Colle sub Idaeo vincere digna deas' — approaches the bed of her destined
new spouse though as yet with the countenance of a mother or rather of a holy vestal. In her
2. Facta et dicta memorabilia,lib. 5, cap. 7, ext. 1 („Dc patrum amore ct indulgentia in liberos").
3. Francesco Petrarca, Le Rime sparse e i Trionfi, ed. Ezio Chicrboli. Bari. 1930. pp. 310—311.
4. Inv. n° Mo 837; unsigned, on panel, 31,5 by 46,5 cm. Malarstwa Holenderskie XVII—XVIII iv., Poznań, 1958, n° 77,
iii. 62.
5. Cat. 1951, n° 147; exactly the same size as the Poznań picture.
6. Cat. 1920,n° 1406; panel, 31 by 47 cm. At present on Ioan to the Institut Nćerlandais in Paris. Contrary to St. (note 46)
signed ,,G. Lairesse inv ftcit". A corresponding drawingis in the Louyre (Cat. Lugt 1929,11 394). I do not know the ver-
sion in the Museum in Oldenburg, Cat. 1902, n° 238. A water-color copy of the Amsterdam picture by Aert
Schouman (dated 1773) is in the Chr. P. van Eeghen Collection (Exh. Amsterdam 1958, n° 95).
7. Cat. 1920, n° 241, unsigned, canvas, 87 by 100 cm . Hallandische Meisler ans der Staatlichen Kunsthalle in Karlsruhe, 1960,
n° 49, with bibliography. Bought in 1769. In spite of some uncertainties concerning its history, it is probable that this
picture is the same which was described by W inekelmi!i:n.
8. Sendschreiben iiber die Gedanken ran der Naehahmung der grieehistl.tr. Wnkt (fect c to the secerd editicn cf tln Gedankeri),
Dresden, 1756, pp. 26 ff.; Werke, ed. CL. Fcrnow, Dresdcn, 1818 I, pp. 98 ff.
9. See St., Appendix I, p- 236 f.
4