The sick prince
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| The sick prince |
|---|
| Antonio Bellucci , around 1700 |
| Oil on canvas |
| Wilhelmshöhe Castle |
The sick prince , also Antiochus and Stratonike , by Antonio Bellucci is a Rococo painting in the Gemäldegalerie Alte Meister in Kassel .
Image description
The Rococo painting from 1700 shows the young Antiochus I. Soter , the son of Seleucus I. Nikator on the sickbed. The cause of his illness is the secret love for his young stepmother Stratonike I. , left in the picture. After Seleucus learns of the secret love, he gives Stratonike to his son Antiochus as wife. The monumental painting reproduces the moment when the doctor discovered Antiochus' love for Stratonice. The gesture of King Seleucus already points to his renunciation in favor of his son.
Literary mention
The young Johann Wolfgang von Goethe , who studied the painting thoroughly in Kassel, described the painting several times in his educational novel Wilhelm Meisters Wanderjahre . It gave him lasting inspiration for the sufferings of young Werther .
literature
- museum: Old Masters Picture Gallery, Schloss Wilhelmshöhe Kassel . Georg Westermann Verlag, Braunschweig 1981.