CIMON AND PERO

THE ORIGINAL, DATED TO THE EARLY 1630S, ON CANVAS, 155 X 190 CM, IS IN THE RIJKSMUSEUM AMSTERDAM (SEE P.J.J. VAN THIEL, ALL THE PAINTINGS, ETC., 1976, P.484, NOA345, ILL.). THE PROVENANCE OF THE ORIGINAL CAN BE TRACED BACK TO 1763, WHEN IT WAS FIRST RECORDED IN THE COLLECTION OF J.G. PEETERS D'AERTSELAER DE CLEYDAEL, ANTWERP. AFTER THE PEETERS SALE ON 27 AUGUST 1817 IT WAS BOUGHT BY HIS SON-IN-LAW HENRI-JOSEPH STIER D'AERTSELAER. IT ENTERED THE MAURITSHUIS IN 1822 AFTER THE STIER D'AERTSELAER SALE AND IT WAS EXCHANGED WITH THE RIJKSMUSEUM IN 1825 (E.MCGRATH, CORPUS RUBENIANUM LUDWIG BURCHARD, XIII, 1, P.105, NO20, FIG.73).

THE SUBJECT IS TAKEN FROM VALERIUS MAXIMUS' DE FACTIS DICTISQUE MEMORABILIBUS V:4. MAXIMUS THERE TELLS IN THE CHAPTER ON "FILIAL PIETY", OF AN OLD MAN CIMON, WHO WAS KEPT IN JAIL AWAITING HIS EXECUTION. TO PREVENT HER FATHER FROM STARVING, HIS DAUGHTER PERO SUCKLED HIM ON HER VISITS TO THE JAIL. AS POINTED OUT BY A. TAPIé ET.AL., IN L'ALLéGORIE DANS LA PEINTURE: LA REPRéSENTATION DE LA CHARITé AU XVIIE SIèCLE, EXH. CAT., 1986, THE STORY WAS POPULAR AMONG 17TH CENTURY PAINTERS AS IT WAS REGARDED EXEMPLARY OF FILIAL LOVE. THE THEME IS GENERALLY KNOWN AS "ROMAN CHARITY".

FROM RUBENS ALONE, THREE INTERPRETATIONS OF THE SUBJECT ARE KNOWN BESIDES THE PRESENT COMPOSITION; THE FIRST OF CIRCA 1610/12 IN THE HERMITAGE, SAINT PETERSBURG (E. MCGRATH, OP. CIT., PP.97FF., NO18, FIG.69), THE SECOND OF CIRCA 1625/28 OFFERED AT CHARPENTIER PARIS, 7 JUNE 1955, LOT 93, WITH ILL. (E. MCGRATH, OP. CIT., PP.103FF, NO19, FIG.72) AND THE THIRD, DATING FROM THE MID 1630S, IN THE WESTPHALIA MUSEUM DES SIEGERLANDES, SIEGEN (E. MCGRATH, OP. CIT., PP.110FF, NO2, FIG.74).