Cimon and Pero

Cimon seated on the ground at right, in profile to left; suckled by Pero who is kneeling at centre of the vaulted room.

Engraving, 1544, signed with monogram and dated at upper left. Lettered at lower right: 'CZINMON' and on the column at right: 'ICH LEB VON DER BRUST MEINER DOCHTER'.

Reverse copy after Barthel Beham (New Hollstein 19). Example of the second state of two with the inscription on the column.

It depicts a characteristic episode of the classical Caritas Romana; Cimone, while waiting in jail to be executed, is breast-fed by his own daughter Pero.

The Caritas Romana is a story reported in Factorum et dictorum memorabilium libri IX by the Roman historian Valerius Maximus. This story takes place in Rome, during the Republican period, in the area between today's Church of St. Nicholas in Prison and the Theater of Marcellus. The story tells of a splendid example of a woman, Pero, who secretly nurses her father, Cimon, to prevent him from dying. Cimon was imprisoned and condemned to starve to death; his daughter Pero requested and was granted permission to visit him and stipulated that she would not bring her father anything to eat. Pero, who had recently given birth, secretly fed her father during her visits; she did so with the only food available: the milk from her breasts. All went well until the guards began to be suspicious; in fact, Cimon despite being very thin was still alive. One day a guard discovered Pero's gesture and reported it to his superiors, who were moved by that gesture of pietas (filial charity) and in his honor freed Cimon. The story of Pero and Cimon inspired a multitude of artists among whom the names of Caravaggio, Rubens and Veermer.

“Sebald produced several engravings and an etching of this subject (P. 76, 77, 78, 79). The print shown here is a reverse copy of a 1525 engraving by Barthel (P. 19), which Sebald modified with the addition of the column at the right, the inscriptions, and the arch in the background. The inscriptions in the second state of Sebald's print (ICH LEB VON DER BRVST MEINER DOCHTER -- I live from the breast of my daughter) clearly identify the subject as Cimon and Pero, whose story was recounted by Valerius Maximus in his discussion of filial piety. According to the ancient Roman writer, the aged Cimon was in prison awaiting execution and therefore given no food. However, the jailer allowed Cimon's daughter Pero to visit him, and she nourished her father by offering him her breast to suckle. The story was considered an example of Caritas Romana (Roman Charity), and sometimes appeared in cycles of the seven works of mercy to illustrate "Visiting Prisoners". The theme may also have had special personal meaning for the Behams. In his discussion of the Behams' prints of Cimon and Pero, Zschelletzschky suggested that the 1525 engraving by Barthel that served as a model for this print may have been inspired by the Behams' own 1525 arrest andexpulsion from Nuremberg for atheistic and anarchic views. Whether or not Zschelletzschky's interpretation is true, neither the events of 1525 nor the traditional significance of the story explain an important aspect of the Behams' image. All of the brothers' prints of Cimon and Pero -- particularly the engraving by Sebald shown here and the original work by Barthel - exploited the erotic potential of the story. The Behams' prints of Cimon and Pero typically show Pero in a state of partial undress more suggestive of love-making than of the act of suckling. In most of the images, the upper part of Pero's dress has been allowed to fall off her shoulders, revealing both breasts, and her skirt is parted to display her bare thigh, while in a preparatory drawing for the group Pero is completely naked. In the engraving by Sebald shown here and in the model by Barthel, the way in which Pero embraces Cimon and presses her body against his particularly emphasizes the sexual aspects of the encounter. This exploitation of the erotic potential of a story usually interpreted in other terms also characterizes other works by the Behams, such as their engravings of the Old Testament heroine Judith” (cfr.  J. L. Levy in “The World in Miniature. Engravings by the German Little Masters 1500-1550” pp. 90-91).

Shortly before 1520, some young artists in Albercht Dürer's circle took to making very small engravings that challenged the viewer with a miniature world of new secular subject matter and unconventional interpretations of traditional themes. Because of the small size of their engravings, these artists have long been affixed with the collective, and unflattering, name of Small Nuremberg Masters. The core of the group consists of three artists from Nuremberg, Hans Sebald & Bartel Beham and Georg Pencz, and in addition Jacob Bink from Cologne and Heinrich Aldegrever from Soest.

A good impression, printed on contemporary laid paper without watermark, with thin margins, in good condition.

Bibliografia

Pauli 1901-11, Hans Sebald Beham: Ein Kritisches Verzeichniss seiner Kupferstiche Radirungen und Holzschnitte (79.II); Hollstein, German engravings, etchings and woodcuts c.1400-1700 (79.II); Bartsch, Le Peintre graveur (VIII.146.75); J. L. Levy in “The World in Miniature. Engravings by the German Little Masters 1500-1550” pp. 90-91, n. 17.