The Wife of Hasdrubal and Her Children
c. 1490/1493
Medium
tempera on poplar panel
Dimensions
overall: 47.3 x 30.6 cm (18 5/8 x 12 1/16 in.) framed: 67 x 50.2 x 4.4 cm (26 3/8 x 19 3/4 x 1 3/4 in.)
Classification
Painting
Department
CIS-R
Museum
National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.
Credit
Ailsa Mellon Bruce Fund
Accession Number
1965.7.1
Art Historical Context
In the late 15th century, Ercole de' Robert, a master of the Ferrarese in northern Italy, crafted *The Wife of Hasdral and Her Children*c. 1490/1493), a haunting tempera painting on poplar panel. just 47.3 x 30.6 cm, this intimate captures a pivotal moment from ancient history: the fall of Carthage in 146 BC during the Punic War. Hasdrubal, the city's last defender, surrendered to the Romans, but his defiant wife chose death over captivity. In a gesture of ultimate despair, she murdered their two young sons before hurling herself into the flames of the burning palace—a story drawn from Livy's ...