Sophonisba Receiving a Cup of Poison
by PELLEGRINI, Giovanni Antonio, Oil on canvas, 126 x 108 cm
The pair of paintings, Susanna and the Elders, and Sophonisba Receiving a Cup of Poison, were painted during the artist’s first period in England. In this pair, Pellegrini portrays the stories of two women, Susanna and Sophonisba, who, since the Renaissance, had been regarded as paradigms of female virtue and had long been popular as subjects for artists.
Pellegrini was to return to these subjects later on his career.