2-742-346 - Heritage Art/Heritage Images

Study for "Antiochus and Stratonice", c. 1746. Struck by a mysterious illness, Antiochus lies in bed near death. His grieving father, who has recently taken Stratonice as his wife, summons a doctor. Noticing that the sight of the young woman quickens Antiochus’s pulse and that passion causes his sickness, the doctor describes the youth’s predicament to his father, who selflessly offers Stratonice to his son. The subject, both a love story and an example of parental devotion, enjoyed considerable popularity well into the 1800s.