Paolo Pagani. The Death of Sophonisba

A dramatic scene from Roman history: the Carthaginian Sophonisba chooses death over captivity. The painting is by the North Italian painter Paolo Pagani and bears his signature; its companion, "The Capture of Sophonisba", is also kept at Arkhangelskoye.

Sophonisba, daughter of the Carthaginian general Hasdrubal Gisco, lived during the Second Punic War. In 203 BC, after the defeat of her husband, the Numidian king Syphax, she married his rival Masinissa, an ally of Rome, on the same day. The Roman general Scipio demanded that she be handed over as spoils of war, and Masinissa sent her poison, which she drank rather than be led as a captive in a Roman triumph. The story was told by Titus Livy and became a popular subject in drama, opera and painting.

Both paintings were made between 1695 and 1700, when Pagani was in close contact with Venetian masters. Yusupov obtained them from the collection of Hetman Count Kirill Grigoryevich Razumovsky. Oil on canvas.