Simo and his former slave Sosia. From Terence´s Andria.
Nicolai Abildgaard (Danish, 1743–1809)
1803
- Medium
- Oil on canvas
- Classification
- Painting
- Dimensions
- height 157.5 cm, width 142 cm, height 169.8 cm, width 154.4 cm
- Culture
- Danish
- Museum
- SMK – National Gallery of Denmark
- Rights
- Public Domain Mark: SMK waives its rights in this photograph, as the museum states it.
- Who can see it
- Teens profiles and older: its museum says too little about what it shows to place it for younger viewers. How works are placed
View at the SMK – National Gallery of Denmark
About this work
Dedicated to his wife, Abildgaard painted four scenes from THE ANDRIA, a story of two young lovers who must brave many challenges before winning each other – just like the artist and his wife, Juliane Marie. The young man’s father is preparing a wedding between his son and his friend’s daughter (1st left), but the son loves the girl from Andros. The son’s slave (masked) wishes to help his master (no. 2) but not even the cries of the girl from Andros’ newborn child compels the father (no. 3). Eventually, the slave and the girl’s maid try to dissuade the father’s friend by means of the baby (no. 4). As it turns out, the girl from Andros is the father’s friend’s long-lost daughter! So the relationship is universally accepted. The happy end is not shown, but hinted at by the family in the doorway: Abildgaard, his wife, and their newborn baby.
