Peter Paul Rubens
Helene Fourment in Her Bridal Gown, um 1630/31
Eichenholz, 163,5 x 136,9 cm
Erworben 1698 durch Kurfürst Max Emanuel
Inv. Nr. 340
The Death of Seneca
Seneca, having been accused of treason by his own student, the Emperor Nero, was forced to commit suicide. A doctor and friend has cut open Seneca's veins in warm water to speed the flow of blood. A scribe attempts to record the last words of the philosopher: "VIR[TUS]" (virtue). The virtue referred to is stoic composure, which Seneca worthily demonstrated while he died. The somewhat monument-like feeling of the painting harks back to the model that Rubens used: an ancient statue of an African fisherman that was known in the 17th century as the "Dying Seneca", which the artist combined with a portrait bust from his own collection, the "pseudo-Seneca".