Manius Curius Dentatus weigert de geschenken van de Samnieten 1664

This engraving, by François Tortebat, depicts Manius Curius Dentatus refusing gifts from the Samnites. It’s a print, so it can tell us a lot about the wider circulation of ideas in the 17th century. Tortebat was French, and he was working during a time when France was trying to understand its relationship to the Roman Empire. Here we see the Roman general Dentatus, a figure renowned for his integrity and incorruptibility, rejecting bribes from the Samnites. The print is based on a painting by Jacques Stella who was commissioned by Louis XIII to decorate a gallery in the Château de Saint-Germain-en-Laye. The story of Dentatus would have resonated with contemporary audiences as it was a way of thinking through how to govern well and with integrity, while avoiding the pitfalls of corruption and decadence. The image draws on visual codes of classical antiquity to underscore its message about virtue, duty, and the importance of resisting temptation. To fully understand this work, we might look at ancient texts like Plutarch’s Lives, or histories of the Roman Republic. We can learn a lot about the social and institutional context of this work and its importance to French society.