The Continence of Scipio
Pieter Codde(Amsterdam 1599 – Amsterdam 1678)

ca. 1630–35
oil on panel
54.6 x 75.6 cm
PC-100How to cite
Nogrady, Elizabeth, and Arthur K. Wheelock Jr. “The Continence of Scipio” (2024). In The Leiden Collection Catalogue,
4th ed. Edited by Arthur K. Wheelock Jr. and Elizabeth Nogrady with Caroline Van Cauwenberge. New York, 2023–.
https://theleidencollection.com/artwork/the-continence-of-scipio/ (accessed April 2024).
A PDF of every version of this entry is available in this Online Catalogue's Archive, and the Archive is managed by apermanent URL. New versions are added only when a substantive change to the narrative occurs.

© 2024 The Leiden Collection

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Pieter Codde (1599–1678), best known for his portraits and interior scenes ofComparative Figures

soldiers, musicians, and elegant merrymakers, also painted compelling history
paintings, among them The Continence of Scipio. This scene from Roman antiquity
depicts a celebrated moment in the life of Scipio (ca. 236–183 BCE) that epitomizes
the ideal of a good and just leader. Scipio, whose full name was Publius Cornelius
Scipio Africanus, was the young Roman commander of the Spanish provinces during
the Second Punic War. As recounted by the ancient historians Polybius and Livy
(Titus Livius), Scipio led his troops in a successful siege of New Carthage (today
Cartagena, Spain) in 210 BCE.[1] Among the hostages Scipio’s troops took after theirFig 1. Trajan’s Column, the First
Dacian War, the first adlocutio, scene
10, erected 106–13 CE, marble,
Rome.

victory was a “maiden of a beauty so extraordinary that, wherever she went, she drew
the eyes of everyone.” His men subsequently presented the maiden to Scipio as acaptive. Upon discovering that this young woman was engaged to Allucius, the leaderof the conquered Celtiberians who inhabited that region, Scipio summoned her fiancé
and her parents and informed Allucius: “Your betrothed has been in my camp withthe same regard for modesty as in the house of your parents-in-law, her own parents.
She has been kept for you, so that she could be given to you as a gift, unharmed andworthy of you and of me. This is the only price that I stipulate in return for that gift:
be a friend to the Roman people.” Scipio then feigned accepting the ransom of goldand precious objects that the young woman’s parents had brought with them to

Fig 2. Gerbrand van den Eeckhout,
The Magnanimity of Scipio, 1658, oilon canvas, 138.1 x 171.5 cm, Toledo
Museum of Art, inv. no. 1923.3155,
Gift of Arthur J. Secor.

present to him in exchange for their daughter’s safe return, while in fact giving thesetreasures to Allucius as a wedding gift. The bridegroom subsequently told his
countrymen that the Roman general conquers through “arms and especially bygenerosity and favors.”[2] For centuries, and notably in Renaissance Europe, Scipio’s
actions were perceived as a model of restraint, judgement, and leadership.[3]Scenes from Roman history were of particular importance to the Dutch, who believedthat Roman heroes embodied virtues that should serve as models for leaders of the
Dutch Republic. Because of Scipio’s renowned qualities of equanimity and justice,Fig 3. Karel van Mander, The
Continence of Scipio, 1600, oil on
copper, 44 x 79 cm, Rijksmuseum,
Amsterdam, inv. SK-A-4690.

depictions of the Continence (or self-restraint) of Scipio were often commissioned
for town halls and other government buildings. In the late 1630s, for example, the cityof Leiden commissioned Jan Lievens (1607–74) to paint this subject for the council
chamber of the town hall.[4] As with Codde’s painting, however, a number ofrepresentations of this narrative were modest in size, indicating that such works werepainted for private patrons.[5] Many cabinet-sized depictions of the Continence of
Scipio were portraits historiés in which the artist’s patrons were shown in the guise of
the bride’s elderly parents or, as in Codde’s painting, the young betrothed couple. In

Fig 4. Pieter Codde, The Continenceof Scipio, n.d., medium anddimensions unknown, previously
P.J.G. Van Diggelen, Scheveningen.

such domestic settings, the story of Scipio and the bride of Allucius could have served
as an exemplar of a number of virtues, including personal equanimity, self-restraint,
loving relationships, and depth of allegiance to a wise leader.[6]© 2024 The Leiden Collection

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Codde drew from well-established compositional prototypes to compose
his Continence of Scipio. Scipio wears a luxurious knee-length red woolen tunic undera long red cloak clasped at the neck and a laurel wreath, all of which signify his status
as a triumphant commander.[7] He points his black ceremonial baton toward thekneeling father, who, in gratitude for the Roman’s benevolence, offers him expensive
metalware, including platters, tazze, pitchers, and urns. Meanwhile, as the bride’s
mother fervently clasps her hands in supplication, three men bring even moretreasures to present to the victor. The young couple, dressed in shimmering robes,
tenderly hold each other’s hands while looking thankfully toward Scipio.
This overall design, and particularly Scipio’s pose, evokes classical imagery of theadlocutio, an address given to troops by the emperor. Depictions of this act—such asthat found on Trajan’s column, the Roman monument erected in 106–13 CE (fig 1)—feature an emperor standing with one arm extended, often surrounded byonlookers.[8] Karel van Mander (1548–1606) recommended a related arrangement in
Den Grondt der Edel Vry Schilderconst (The Foundation of the Noble, Free Art of
Painting) of 1604. In chapter five (“On the Ordonnance and Invention of Histories”),
he indicated that a variety of figural types should be included in the crowd, writingthat those personages central to the historical narrative should be portrayed standing
amid onlookers who focus on them.[9]Codde likely based his depiction of the Continence of Scipio on a lost composition by
Pieter Lastman (1583–1633), the preeminent history painter in Amsterdam in thesecond and third decades of the seventeenth century. Lastman was Codde’s neighbor,and his works served repeatedly as a model for the younger artist.[10] As Peter C.
Sutton has emphasized, Lastman’s portrayal of the Continence of Scipio had great
resonance with later Dutch artists who depicted this subject, including Nicolaes
Moeyaert (1592–1655) and Gerbrand van den Eeckhout (1621–74), the latter ofwhom painted this episode in the life of Scipio multiple times in the 1650s and 1660s(fig 2).[11] These artists’ depictions of the Continence of Scipio suggest that Lastman’s
prototype similarly portrayed Scipio standing on a raised surface with key figures in
the narrative kneeling near the Roman commander, against a backdrop of antiqueruins.
Codde carefully modeled the figures of Scipio, Allucius and his fiancée, her father,and the sparkling treasure of expensive serving dishes to emphasize these key
compositional elements. The mother of the young woman, who beseeches Scipio forclemency, is somewhat more broadly rendered. Codde modeled the attendants at rightwith thinly applied ocher paints to indicate their distance from the main figuregroups.[12] Codde also used color to emphasize connections among his figures. For
example, the red garments worn by Scipio and the young woman’s father create a© 2024 The Leiden Collection

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visual link between them. Similarly, the silken, gold-colored garments of Allucius andhis bride unite the young couple.
Numerous texts featuring the story of the Continence of Scipio fueled the popularityof this episode from classical antiquity for the Dutch. Codde, who was active in
Amsterdam literary circles early in his career, was likely familiar with Scipio’s deeds
from such written sources as the 1614 Dutch edition of Valerius Maximus’s Factorum
et dictorum memorabilitium (Memorable Doings and Sayings).[13] Valerius, whoorganized his historical anecdotes thematically, placed Scipio’s magnanimity under
the heading “Of Abstinence and Continence” and argued that lust and greed can be“repelled by good sense and reason from the hearts of famous men.”[14] Van
Mander—who painted The Continence of Scipio in 1600 (fig 3)—echoed Valerius’s
praise for Scipio’s valor in Den Grondt der Edel Vry Schilderconst.[15]Other seventeenth-century accounts of Scipio based on Valerius Maximus appearedin well-known publications in the 1630s. Among these texts were J.L. Gottfried’s
world chronicle, published in 1630, with illustrated plates by Matthäus Merian I(1593–1650), as well as a collection of actions and quotations ascribed to virtuous
figures, including Scipio, compiled by Franciscus Heermans in 1634.[16] In his
introduction, Heermans notes that the descriptions of virtue he included in his text
were meant to provide examples of moral behavior for his readers.
Given that history paintings were somewhat rare in Codde’s oeuvre, his Continence of
Scipio can enhance our understanding of both his own professional trajectory and hisplace within wider artistic trends occurring in Amsterdam. It is likely that Codde
painted Continence of Scipio, and another undated version of the subject (fig 4), in the1630s.[17] In this decade, the artist began populating in his merry company scenes witha greater numbers of figures in more complex compositions, often featuring notably
elaborate garments made of luxurious and varied fabrics.[18] Coinciding with these
personal artistic developments were external factors, particularly the pronounced
influence on Dutch history painting in these years of both the work of Lastman (whodied in 1633) and the written recommendations of Van Mander regarding
compositions suitable for this esteemed genre. Beyond artistic circles, anotherpossible factor was the Dutch political landscape of the war against Spain, namely the
positioning of Frederick Hendrick, Prince of Orange, as a hero in the guise ofclassical exemplars like Scipio. This confluence of circumstances produced an ideal
moment for Codde to experiment with applying his skill at painting faces, figures,and objects to the discipline of history painting. In this instance, Codde employed
many of his typical elements, such as a closely gathered crowd of individuals
displaying a range of interactions, sumptuous garments, and carefully rendered stilllife elements, but he reimagined them for a particular historical moment in an© 2024 The Leiden Collection

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outdoor setting reminiscent of Lastman.[19] In subsequent years of intense activity,
Codde opted to maintain his focus on portraits and genre interiors—perhaps to findsuccess on a market moving away from history painting, rather than to assuage his
personal artistic ambition. Nonetheless, The Leiden Collection’s Continence of
Scipio confirms that he did indeed possess the skill, knowledge, and passion for
depicting celebrated figures from the past in a manner that spoke, in the present, tothe aspirations of his Amsterdam clientele.

- Elizabeth Nogrady and Arthur K. Wheelock Jr., 2024

© 2024 The Leiden Collection

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Endnotes
1. See Polybius, Histories, X.19; and Daniel Walker Moore, Polybius: Experience and the Lessons of History(Leiden, 2020), 79–86. See also Livy, The History of Rome, ed. Frank Gardner Moore (Cambridge, MA,1943), XXVI.50, 193, in which the events are covered in detail.
2. Translation from Livy, The History of Rome, ed. Frank Gardner Moore (Cambridge, MA, 1943),
XXVI.50, 193.
3. See Petrarch’s unfinished poem Africa (1338–43) and Niccolò Machiavelli, Discourses on Livy (III, 20)
of 1531. For modern accounts of Scipio Africanus, see Basil Henry Liddell Hart, Greater thanNapoleon: Scipio Africanus (Edinburgh, 1926); Howard Hayes Scullard, Scipio Africanus: Soldier andPolitician (Ithaca, 1970); and John Briscoe, “The Second Punic War,” in Cambridge Ancient History, ed.
A.E. Astin et al. (Cambridge, 1989), 59–65, 73–74.
4. Lievens’s The Continence of Scipio Africanus, 1640 (formerly the Vroedschapskamer of the town hall inLeiden) was destroyed in a fire on 12 February 1929. Regarding this commission, Arnold Houbraken
wrote: “gelyk ook in den jare 1640, voor den Prins van Oranje, en Borgermeesteren van Leiden twee
groote stukken, waar van het eene verbeeld de berugte daad van den Roomschen Scipio Africanus, daar
hy de ondertrouwde Princesse hem aangeboden haren Bruidegom ongeschonden te schenk weder geeft”(such as in 1640 for the Prince of Orange as well as two pieces for the Leiden burgomasters, one ofwhich depicted the famous deed of the Roman Scipio Africanus when he returns the engaged princess
inviolate to her groom). See Arnold Houbraken, De groote schouburgh der Nederlantsche konstschilders
en schilderessen (Amsterdam, 1718–21; rev. ed., The Hague, 1753; reprint, Amsterdam, 1980), 1: 298.
For the English translation, see Arnold Houbraken, Arnold Houbraken’s Great Theatre of theNetherlandish Painters and Paintresses, trans. Hendrik J. Horn and Rieke van Leeuwen, RKD Studies,
2021 (houbraken-translated.rkdstudies.nl).
The subject continued to be popular in public buildings into the mid- and late seventeenth-century
Netherlands, as can be seen in the version by Dirk Hardenstein (1620–81/1701) from around 1649–53
for the Burgomaster’s chamber in the town hall of Deventer (in situ), and in Gerard de Lairesse’s(1641–1711) interpretation from 1688–89 for the civil council chamber of the Court of Appeal of
Holland, Zeeland, and West-Friesland (Binnenhof, The Hague). For the choice of certain historicalsubjects in particular settings, see Beatrijs Brenninkmeyer-de Rooij, “To Behold Is to Be Aware:
History Painting in Public Buildings and the Residences of the Stadtholders,” in Gods, Saints, andHeroes: Dutch Painting in the Age of Rembrandt, by Albert Blankert et al. (Exh. cat., Washington, D.C.,
National Gallery of Art; Detroit, Detroit Institute of Arts; Amsterdam, Rijksmuseum) (Washington,
D.C., 1980), 65–76.
5. See, for instance, Jacob de Wet the Elder (ca. 1610–after 1675), The Continence of Scipio, 1610
(Staatliche Kunsthalle, Karslruhe); and Nicolaes Knüpfer, The Continence of Scipio, ca. 1637 (Museum
Kunstpalast, Düsseldorf). See also Steven Robert Golan, “The Depiction of Scipio Africanus and the© 2024 The Leiden Collection

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Spanish Girl for Public and Private Patrons: Exempla of the Princely and Marital Values,” in “Scenes
from Roman Republican History in Seventeenth-Century Dutch Art: Exempla virtutis for Public andPrivate Viewing” (PhD diss., University of Kansas, 1994), 165, 176–80.
6. Gerbrand van den Eeckhout (1621–74), The Continence of Scipio, 1659 (Philadelphia Museum of Art),is an example of a portrait historié. See Peter C. Sutton, “‘The Continence of Scipio’ by Gerbrandt van
Den Eeckhout (1621–1674),” Philadelphia Museum of Art Bulletin 78, no. 336 (1982): 8. In the Leiden
Collection painting, the extreme length of her father’s beard and crone-like appearance of her mothermake them unlikely candidates for this type of portrait, while the more individualized features of theyoung woman and Allucius may depict the patrons who commissioned the painting.
7. John Brian Campbell, “Crowns and Wreaths, Roman,” in The Oxford Classical Dictionary (Oxford
University

Press,

2015),

https://oxfordre.com/classics/view/10.1093/acrefore/9780199381135.001.0001/acrefore-978019938113
5-e-7329.
8. See Arthur K. Wheelock Jr., “Gerbrand van den Eeckhout, The Continence of Scipio,” in Gods, Saints,
and Heroes: Dutch Painting in the Age of Rembrandt, by Albert Blankert et al. (Exh. cat., Washington,
D.C., National Gallery of Art; Detroit, Detroit Institute of Arts; Amsterdam, Rijksmuseum(Washington, 1980), 174–75, no. 41. These scenes appear also on Roman coins and other ancientmonuments, among them the Arch of Constantine, a tradition that was adapted by many later artists,
including Raphael (1483–1520), Giulio Romano (1499–1546), and Peter Paul Rubens (1577–1640).
9. Karel van Mander, Den Grondt der Edel Vry Schilderconst (Haarlem, 1604), chapter 5, no. 23, fol. 17r.
10. Jochai Rosen, Pieter Codde (1599–1678): Catalogue Raisonné (Newcastle upon Tyne, 2020), 34–36.
Lastman, too, lived on the Sint Anthonisbreestraat. See the biography of Lastman in this catalogue by
Piet Bakker.
11. Peter Lastman applied this compositional type when depicting other subjects as well, including in his
Coriolanus and the Roman Women, 1622 (Trinity College, Dublin), while Rembrandt also used it in his
History Painting with Self-Portrait of the Artist, 1626 (Museum De Lakenhal, Leiden). See Peter C.
Sutton, Northern European Paintings in the Philadelphia Museum of Art: From the Sixteenth through the
Nineteenth Century (Philadelphia, 1990), 79–83.
12. This range of buildup, modeling, color, and detail of execution was one that Codde often employed in
his history paintings. For a similar approach when depicting background figures, see The Sacrifice of
Polyxena in the Kremer Collection. See Eric Jan Sluijter, Rembrandt’s Rivals: History Painting in
Amsterdam (1630–1650) (Philadelphia, 2015), 310. Codde’s facility with ocher pigments can also beseen in the oil sketch The Dead Adonis Lamented by Venus, the Three Graces and Cupid, 1640–50s(State Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg).
13. Codde’s connection to literature is evident in the 1627 play Tyrus, in which the playwright Elias
Herckmans (1596–1644) mentioned him in the dedication, while in 1633 Codde published a love poem
in Hollande Nachtegaelken. See Paul Brandt Jr., “Notities over het leven en werk van den© 2024 The Leiden Collection

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Amsterdamschen schilder Pieter Codde,” Historia 12 (1947): 28. See also Valerius Maximus, Factorum
ac dictorum memorabilium libri IX, VI.3. For the Dutch edition, see Valerius Maximus, Des aldervermaertsten ende wel-sprekensten Histori-schrijvers Valerii Maximi, trans. Conradus Mirkinius(Rotterdam, 1614). For an English translation, see Valerius Maximus, Memorable Doings and Sayings,
vol. 1, books 1–5, ed. and trans. D.R. Shackleton Bailey, Loeb Classical Library 492 (Cambridge, MA,
2000), 364–67. Discussions of Valerius Maximus as a source for seventeenth-century Netherlandish
artists can be found in Steven Robert Golan, “Scenes from Roman Republican History in SeventeenthCentury Dutch Art: Exempla virtutis for Public and Private Viewing” (PhD diss., University of Kansas,
1994), 169, 210n13; and Amy Golahny, Rembrandt’s Reading: The Artist’s Bookshelf of Ancient Poetryand History (Amsterdam, 2003), 186.
14. Valerius Maximus, Memorable Doings and Sayings, vol. 1, books 1–5, ed. and trans. D.R. Shackleton
Bailey, Loeb Classical Library 492 (Cambridge, MA, 2000), 365.
15. Sixteenth- and seventeenth-century authors, among them Cesare Ripa and Karel van Mander, praised
Scipio for his good manners, respectability, and kindheartedness more than for his military victories.
See Cesare Ripa’s Iconologia of Uytbeeldinghen des Verstants, trans. Dirck Pietersz. Pers (Amsterdam,
1644), 7, where he notes “En ’t is geen wonder dat dese dappere Romeinsche Hoofdman, niet soo seerdoor sijn kracht, als door sijn goede manieren en achtbaerheyd . . . gestelt wort” (And it is no wonderthat this heroic Roman captain, not so much for his power, but for his good qualities and estimation . . .
is positioned). See also Karel van Mander, Den Grondt der Edel Vry Schilderconst (Haarlem, 1604),
chapter XIII, no. 17, where Van Mander noted, “Scipio en Alexander meer gepresen, hun ghemoeden tehebben verwonnen, dan van weghen hun krijchs victorien” (Scipio and Alexander praised more forhaving triumphed over their [base] impulses than by cause of military victories), as translated in Walter
S. Melion, Karel van Mander and His “Foundation of the Noble, Free Art of Painting”: First English
Translation, with Introduction and Commentary, Brill’s Studies on Art, Art History, and IntellectualHistory 62 [Leiden, 2023], chapter 13, no. 17, 338. For Van Mander’s painting, see Hessel Miedema,“De grootmoedigheid van Scipio, een schilderij van Karel van Mander uit 1600,” Bulletin van het
Rijksmuseum 26, no. 2 (1978): 51–59.
16. See J.L. Gottfried, Historische Chronica, oder, beschreibung der furnembsten Geschichten, so sich vonAnfang der Welt biss auff unsere Zeitten zugetrage (Frankfurt, 1629–34). Pieter Lastman and Rembrandt
likely used Merian’s imagery as inspiration for their own scenes from history. See Amy Golahny,
Rembrandt’s Reading: The Artist’s Bookshelf of Ancient Poetry and History (Amsterdam, 2003), 138–44.
Codde used Merian’s etching of “King Hezekiah Destroys the Idols” from Icones Biblicae (Frankfurt, ca.
1625–30) as a model for his painting of the same subject (present whereabouts unknown). See Jochai
Rosen, Pieter Codde (1599–1678): Catalogue Raisonné (Newcastle upon Tyne, 2020), 34–35. See also
Franciscus Heermans, De guldene annotatien van Franciscus Heermans vertonende de treffelijckste
daden, deuchden ende sententien der voornaemste coningen, princen, philosoophen, poeten, orateuren ende
andere magnefijque en heroique persoonen (Amsterdam, 1634), 173–74.
17. Codde’s other known painting of The Continence of Scipio was formerly in the collection of P.J.G. van© 2024 The Leiden Collection

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Diggelen, Scheveningen (The Hague); see RKD image no. 0000002607. Eric Jan Sluijter contends that
Codde primarily made history paintings toward the beginning of his career, though he notes it isdifficult to date the artist’s works. For this painting, Sluijter proposes a date of around 1633 to 1635.
See Eric Jan Sluijter, Rembrandt’s Rivals: History Painting in Amsterdam (1630–1650) (Philadelphia,2015), 297–98. Ellen Borger also suggests that this work was from earlier in Codde’s career, in part
because his contemporary Jacob Duck (ca. 1600–1667)—who, like Codde, was a painter of guardroom
pictures—produced scenes of women as the spoils of war in the second half of the 1630s, albeit incontemporary settings (Guardroom Scene with Spoils of War, ca. 1635–39, North Carolina Museum ofArt, Raleigh; Interior of a Guardroom with Soldiers Inspecting the Booty, with a Pleading Couple,
1635–39, Staatsgalerie im Schloß Johannisburg, Aschaffenburg). See Ellen Borger, Geschilderdewachtlokalen: De Hollandse kortegaard uit de Gouden Eeuw (Exh. cat. Naarden, Nederlands
Vestingmuseum) (Zwolle, 1996), 17. In either scenario, this production of history paintings early in his
career suggests that Codde did indeed value this lauded genre and sought to make his mark in that realm,
even as it lay outside the primary area of specializations for which he was known.
18. Caroline Bigler Playter, “Willem Duyster en Pieter Codde: The ‘Duystere Werelt’ of Dutch Genre
Painting, ca. 1625–1635” (PhD diss., Harvard University, 1972), 67–68.
19. Compare, for example, passages of Codde’s The Continence of Scipio to the gold dress and carpet in his
Dutch Cavaliers and Their Ladies Making Music, 1631 (Bristol Museum Collections), as well as thehairstyles and depictions of folds in fabric in his Gallant Company, 1633 (Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam).

Provenance(Sale, Christie’s, London, 25 October 1985, lot 84.)
(Sale, Christie’s, London, 6 July 2006, no. 102.)[Jack Kilgore and Co., Inc., New York.]
From whom acquired by the present owner in 2007.

References
Borger, Ellen. Geschilderde wachtlokalen: De Hollandse kortegaard uit de Gouden Eeuw. Exh. cat.
Naarden, Nederlands Vestingmuseum. Zwolle, 1996, 17.
Sluijter, Eric Jan. Rembrandt’s Rivals: History Painting in Amsterdam 1630–1650. OCULI: Studies in
the Arts of the Low Countries 14. Amsterdam and Philadelphia, 2015, 306, fig. no. 60.
Rosen, Jochai. Pieter Codde (1599 –1678): Catalogue Raisonné. Newcastle upon Tyne, 2020, 37, 441,
© 2024 The Leiden CollectionPowered by TCPDF (www.tcpdf.org)

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no. 142.
Wheelock, Arthur K., Jr. “Pieter Codde, Continence of Scipio.” In Rembrandt and His Contemporaries:
History Paintings from The Leiden Collection. Edited by Arthur K. Wheelock Jr. and Caroline Van
Cauwenberge, 36–39, no. 5. Exh. cat. Amsterdam, Hermitage Amsterdam. Zwolle, 2023. [Exhibition
catalogue also published in Dutch.]© 2024 The Leiden Collection