The Continence of Scipio (Batoni)

The Continence of Scipio is a 1771 history painting by the Italian artist Pompeo Batoni.^[1] It depicts a scene from the Siege of Carthage during the Second Punic War when Scipio Africanus, a general of the Roman Republic, refused to accept a ransom for an aristocratic female prisoner and released her to her fiancée. The story of Scipio's clemency is told by Livy and has been a popular subject for artists.

The Continence of Scipio
Artist	Pompeo Batoni
Year	1771
Type	Oil on canvas, history painting
Dimensions	226.5 cm × 297.5 cm (89.2 in × 117.1 in)
Location	Hermitage Museum, Saint Petersburg

Although best-known for his portrait paintings of Grand Tourists, the Rome-based Batoni also produced scenes from religious and classical history. The style of the painting indicates his shift in his later career towards a more painterly form of classicism.^[2] The painting was commissioned by Count Shuvalov in 1768 on behalf of Catherine the Great for a sum of around 1,700 scudi.^[3] The Empress also commissioned a pendant Thetis Takes Achilles from the Centaur Chiron.^[4] Today both works are in the collection of the Hermitage Museum in Saint Petersburg.^[5]