Angelica Kauffman, Papirius Praetextatus Entreated by His Mother to Disclose the Secrets of the Deliberations of the Roman Senate, About 1775-80. Oil paint on canvas; 24 1/16 in. (61.1 cm). Gift of the Berger Collection Educational Trust, 2019.4

diameter: 24 1/16 in, 61.1188 cm; frame height: 37 7/16 in, 95.0913 cm; frame width: 37 7/16 in, 95.0913 cm; frame depth: 5 1/2 in, 13.9700 cm

European and American Art Before 1900

European Painting and Sculpture before 1900

This object is currently on view

During the late 1700s, painters illustrating texts from ancient Greece and Rome often embedded moralizing messages into their pictures. Such works of art flattered their owners’ intellect while also suggesting their high moral standards. Here Angelica Kauffman tells the story of Papirius, who was granted special entry to the senate after he resisted his mother’s pleas to reveal details of its secret proceedings.
 

Sir Cosmo Antrobus, Bt. (1859–1939), Amesbury Abbey, Salisbury, Wiltshire; by descent; sale, Sotheby’s, London, April 12, 1995, lot 108; from which acquired by Lane Fine Art, London; with Hall & Knight, London; from which acquired by William M. B. Berger and Bernadette Johnson Berger, Denver, 1997; Berger Collection Educational Trust; gifted to the Denver Art Museum, 2019. Provenance research is on-going at the Denver Art Museum and we will post information as it becomes available. Please e-mail provenance@denverartmuseum.org, if you have questions, or if you have additional information to share with us.

• “Treasures from the Berger Collection: British Paintings 1400-2000” — Denver Art Museum, 10/2/2014 – 9/9/2018