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#0015
a truły dramatic interpretation. It is therefore no surprise to find that de Lairesse's represen-
tation was soon to be superseded by a masterly composition of tlie Acadćmie Franęaise, which
stipulated this very subject in I77413. But it is also significant that this was to be almost tlie
last time that the generous cession of Stratonice by her husband received such emphasis; later
works concentrated instead on Seleucus' grief at the illness of his son, as well as on the doctor's
discovery, while Stratonice is left to her own thoughts (Benjamin West, Januarius Zick, Girodet,
Guillemot, Ingres)14. Now it was the tragedy that counted, and not tlie „happy ending"
which was still paramount in de LairesseV and even David's minds.
Of the representations of the story which have come to my knowledge after the publicatioii
of my article, by far the earliest is a panel attributed by some to Bonifazio Veronese, now in
the Museo Poldi Pezzoli in Milan (fig. 5)15. It is the only sixteenth century picture of this subject
known to me; until now, there seemed to exist a long interval between the famous cassoni by
the fifteenth century „Stratonice Master"16 and the fresco by Piętro da Cortona of the 1640's.
The smali, broad Milan panel, too, se-ems to be part of a chest decoration; it shows the youth
languishing in his bed, looking with a malencholy gesture at the physician who is taking his
pulse,whiie the queen, turning away from a tray with remedies held by a colored page,sends
a telling glance to her lover; in the right distance, behind stately columns, the physician appears
again, entreated for help by the unhappy father.
Afew paintings of the seventeenth century are worth recording here; at that time, the subject
was not yet as popular with the painters as it was destined to be in the eighteenth century. The
picture done in 1680 by Daniel Seiter (ex Duke of Westminster Collection, now in the Art
Gallery of Toronto, Canada; fig. 6)168 was understandably attributed to Piętro da Cortona
in William Byland's engraving of 1772; it is indeed a lively variation on the Cortona theme.
The canvas once attributed to Francesco Furini but evidently the work of Furini's most gifted
pupil, Simone Pignoni, became known on the occasion of the great Seicento Exhibition of 1922
in Florence17; however its subject was then not recognized. It anticipates Sebastiano Riccfs
picture in Parma18 in that Stratonice is seated opposite her lover, and in that the composition
is almost entirely taken up by the large foreground figures of these two protagonists and the
physician, to tlie great delriment of the role of Seleucus. A canvas by Theodor van Thulden
(fig. 7)19 also concentrates heavily, and a little overzealously, on the pulse-taking doctor and
the half langaid, half rascally pose adopted by Antiochus as his pretty stepmother passes by,
while the father Seleucus is left to his rather unenlightened self. The explanatory inscription:
„Prudentia amorem relevat" is found on an emblematic cartouche at the right which illustra-
tes these words verbatim: Prudence bending over a sleeping child whom she uncovers. Is it
possible that Sir Joshua Reynolds mistook this picture for a Rubens? In 1781 he saw in the
collection of a Mr. Dasch at Antwerp an „admirable picture of Rubens (with the) story of Se-
13. Sketch in Coli. Murat ,finished version in the Ecole des Beaux-Arts; St. p. 231 f. and fig?. 10—11.
14. St. p. 232 ff. and figs. 12 — 18. For the Girodet see note 29.
15. Color repr.: F. Russoli, La Pinacoleca Poldi Pezzoli (Pref. di Bernard Bercnscn), Milan, 1955. p. 6 (n° 615 of the cata-
logue, caUed,,Doctor visiting a Patient"; the picture was hrought to my attention hy Professor Walter Friedlaender).
16. Huntington Collection. San Marino, California; St. p. 224 and figs. 1 — 2. The loyers are united hy Seleucus in a pa-
nel by Bartolommco Montagna in the Asllmolean Museum in Oxford, Cat. 1951, n° 286.
16a. W. Stechow, „Antiochus and Stratonice", The Art Gallery of Toronto News and Notes, VI, May 1962.
17. U. Ojetti,L. Danii and N. Tarchiani, La pif tura italiana del Seicento e del Settecento alla mostra di Palazzo Pitti. Milan, 1924,
n° 133 as „Scena classica" by Furini; for the correct title and the attr i bulion to Pignoni see A. Pigler in Az Orszagos
Magyar Szepmiiveszeti Museum Evkónyvei, 1937—39. Budapest 1940, p. 179 f. and fig. 6. The same author's
Barockthemen, Budapest, 1956, II, pp. 348 — 351, contains a rich and indispensable list of representations of
our subject. On the treatment of the theme in 17lh.—18th century opera see now also H. Chr. Wolff, Die
Barockoper in Hamburg (1678—1738), Wolfenbiittel, 1957, passim.
18. See note 12.
19. Formerly Coll.Prince Stolberg, Wernigerodc; canvas, 142 by 236 cm. From the Coli. Freiherr von Brabeck, Castle Soder
near Hildesheim (cat.by F. W. von Ramdohr, 1792 ,n° 76: sale in Hannover, Oct. 31,1859,n° 259). I owe the knowledge
and photograph of this work to my late friend, Dr. Hans Schneider in Baeel,
9
tation was soon to be superseded by a masterly composition of tlie Acadćmie Franęaise, which
stipulated this very subject in I77413. But it is also significant that this was to be almost tlie
last time that the generous cession of Stratonice by her husband received such emphasis; later
works concentrated instead on Seleucus' grief at the illness of his son, as well as on the doctor's
discovery, while Stratonice is left to her own thoughts (Benjamin West, Januarius Zick, Girodet,
Guillemot, Ingres)14. Now it was the tragedy that counted, and not tlie „happy ending"
which was still paramount in de LairesseV and even David's minds.
Of the representations of the story which have come to my knowledge after the publicatioii
of my article, by far the earliest is a panel attributed by some to Bonifazio Veronese, now in
the Museo Poldi Pezzoli in Milan (fig. 5)15. It is the only sixteenth century picture of this subject
known to me; until now, there seemed to exist a long interval between the famous cassoni by
the fifteenth century „Stratonice Master"16 and the fresco by Piętro da Cortona of the 1640's.
The smali, broad Milan panel, too, se-ems to be part of a chest decoration; it shows the youth
languishing in his bed, looking with a malencholy gesture at the physician who is taking his
pulse,whiie the queen, turning away from a tray with remedies held by a colored page,sends
a telling glance to her lover; in the right distance, behind stately columns, the physician appears
again, entreated for help by the unhappy father.
Afew paintings of the seventeenth century are worth recording here; at that time, the subject
was not yet as popular with the painters as it was destined to be in the eighteenth century. The
picture done in 1680 by Daniel Seiter (ex Duke of Westminster Collection, now in the Art
Gallery of Toronto, Canada; fig. 6)168 was understandably attributed to Piętro da Cortona
in William Byland's engraving of 1772; it is indeed a lively variation on the Cortona theme.
The canvas once attributed to Francesco Furini but evidently the work of Furini's most gifted
pupil, Simone Pignoni, became known on the occasion of the great Seicento Exhibition of 1922
in Florence17; however its subject was then not recognized. It anticipates Sebastiano Riccfs
picture in Parma18 in that Stratonice is seated opposite her lover, and in that the composition
is almost entirely taken up by the large foreground figures of these two protagonists and the
physician, to tlie great delriment of the role of Seleucus. A canvas by Theodor van Thulden
(fig. 7)19 also concentrates heavily, and a little overzealously, on the pulse-taking doctor and
the half langaid, half rascally pose adopted by Antiochus as his pretty stepmother passes by,
while the father Seleucus is left to his rather unenlightened self. The explanatory inscription:
„Prudentia amorem relevat" is found on an emblematic cartouche at the right which illustra-
tes these words verbatim: Prudence bending over a sleeping child whom she uncovers. Is it
possible that Sir Joshua Reynolds mistook this picture for a Rubens? In 1781 he saw in the
collection of a Mr. Dasch at Antwerp an „admirable picture of Rubens (with the) story of Se-
13. Sketch in Coli. Murat ,finished version in the Ecole des Beaux-Arts; St. p. 231 f. and fig?. 10—11.
14. St. p. 232 ff. and figs. 12 — 18. For the Girodet see note 29.
15. Color repr.: F. Russoli, La Pinacoleca Poldi Pezzoli (Pref. di Bernard Bercnscn), Milan, 1955. p. 6 (n° 615 of the cata-
logue, caUed,,Doctor visiting a Patient"; the picture was hrought to my attention hy Professor Walter Friedlaender).
16. Huntington Collection. San Marino, California; St. p. 224 and figs. 1 — 2. The loyers are united hy Seleucus in a pa-
nel by Bartolommco Montagna in the Asllmolean Museum in Oxford, Cat. 1951, n° 286.
16a. W. Stechow, „Antiochus and Stratonice", The Art Gallery of Toronto News and Notes, VI, May 1962.
17. U. Ojetti,L. Danii and N. Tarchiani, La pif tura italiana del Seicento e del Settecento alla mostra di Palazzo Pitti. Milan, 1924,
n° 133 as „Scena classica" by Furini; for the correct title and the attr i bulion to Pignoni see A. Pigler in Az Orszagos
Magyar Szepmiiveszeti Museum Evkónyvei, 1937—39. Budapest 1940, p. 179 f. and fig. 6. The same author's
Barockthemen, Budapest, 1956, II, pp. 348 — 351, contains a rich and indispensable list of representations of
our subject. On the treatment of the theme in 17lh.—18th century opera see now also H. Chr. Wolff, Die
Barockoper in Hamburg (1678—1738), Wolfenbiittel, 1957, passim.
18. See note 12.
19. Formerly Coll.Prince Stolberg, Wernigerodc; canvas, 142 by 236 cm. From the Coli. Freiherr von Brabeck, Castle Soder
near Hildesheim (cat.by F. W. von Ramdohr, 1792 ,n° 76: sale in Hannover, Oct. 31,1859,n° 259). I owe the knowledge
and photograph of this work to my late friend, Dr. Hans Schneider in Baeel,
9