# The Continence of Scipio

- By: Sebastiano Ricci (Italian, 1659–1734)
- Date: c. 1706
- Medium: Oil on canvas
- Classification: Painting
- Dimensions: 140 × 182 cm (55 × 71 1/2 in.); Framed: 165.1 × 209.6 cm (65 × 82 1/2 in.)
- Culture: Italy
- Credit line: Preston O. Morton Memorial Fund
- Museum: [Art Institute of Chicago](https://www.artic.edu/artworks/33249)
- Rights: [Public domain (CC0)](https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/)
- Picture: https://www.artic.edu/iiif/2/71d54071-9aa9-b702-99ba-914b1b23278e/full/843,/0/default.jpg
- Who can see it: Teens profiles and older (museums give no ratings; placed by Invisible Network from the museum's own words)

This painting depicts a scene from the life of Scipio Africanus, the Roman general who defeated Hannibal in the Battle of Zama (in present-day Tunisia) in 202 BCE. Here Scipio demonstrates his leadership by acting with restraint (“continence”) in refusing to hold a woman as a captive of war. According to the story on which the painting is based, the woman’s fiancé, shown kneeling beside her, was a powerful prince who agreed to a military alliance with Scipio in gratitude for his lenience. The theatrical setting and costumes—the invented military helmets, anachronistically dressed characters, fanciful architecture, and gravity-defying drapery, for example— suggest that the artist’s aims were allegorical rather than historical, intended above all to illustrate for viewers the virtues of compassionate diplomacy.

Description © Art Institute of Chicago, CC BY 4.0