Marius prisoner at Minturnes - Jean-Germain Drouais

Artist :

Drouais, Jean-Germain (1763-1788)

Date :

1786

Type of image :

Peinture sur toile

Dimensions (HxL cm) :

271x365 cm

Topic :

Histoire ancienne

Storage Location :

Paris, Musée du Louvre

INV 4143

Description

Marius, famous Roman general, after his victory over the Cimbres, met with the hostility of the Senate. After Sylla's coup d'état in 89, Marius fled, but was captured at Minturnes. A Cimberian soldier was sent to execute him, but Marius told him: "Soldier, will you dare kill Gaius Marius? The soldier fled, crying: "I could never kill Marius."

History :

2. Exhibited in Rome in 1786 and sent to Paris the same year, where Fabre was able to see it.

3. Engraving by Louis Darcis exhibited at the Salon of 1796, no. 807 and dated 1796. An ink sketch on paper by François-Xavier Fabre on the same subject and very similar in composition is preserved in Notre Dame, Indiana, The Snite Museum of Art, University of Notre Dame. On the back, it reads: "Fait par Fabre en 1796". Fabre's composition is reversed from that of Drouais. Fabre's final painting, commissioned by Lord Holland, is in the Lady Agnew Collection in Lelbury, England. Numerous preparatory works are preserved in Montpellier.

Indexed items :

Voile sur le visage

Sol en damier

Scène à deux

Textual Sources :

Plutarque (v46/49-v125)

Vie de Marius, §39 (Gallimard Quarto, p. 801)

Valère Maxime (1er s. av/apr JC)

Actions et paroles mémorables, II, 10, Exemples romains de majesté, §6