The Continence of Scipio (Bellini)

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The Continence of Scipio
Artist	Giovanni Bellini
Year	1507–08
Medium	oil on canvas
Dimensions	74.8 cm × 356.2 cm (29.4 in × 140.2 in)
Location	National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.

The Continence of Scipio or An Episode from the Life of Publius Cornelius Scipio is a painting in oils on canvas by the Italian Renaissance artist Giovanni Bellini, dating to 1507–08 and now in the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C.^[1]

History

It was probably commissioned in 1505 from Andrea Mantegna by cardinal Marco Cornaro for the 'studiolo' or study of his brother Francesco's palace in San Polo. This would make it a pendant to The Introduction of the Cult of Cybele at Rome, with the pair possibly intended to form part of a series of four works. However, Mantegna did not begin any of the four except Introduction, the only one that Mantegna he completed before his death in 1506. He and Bellini had trained together as young men and the latter was also the former's brother in law. Bellini was himself an old man by 1506 but still took over this part of the commission and produced it in one of Mantegna's signature styles, grisaille (monochrome). Roberto Longhi has suggested that Sofonisba and Tuccia from Mantegna's Exemplary Women of Antiquity series were produced to go with Introduction and Continence – they are the same height as them but are on panel not canvas and no documents survive to support the theory.

Francesco Cornaro was a Venetian patrician and his family was supposed to be descended from the