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Source Description
This scene from ancient history shows a moment in the boyhood of the great Carthaginian general Hannibal (247-about 183 bc). While sacrificing to the gods in preparation for a military campaign, Hannibal's father decided to have his son swear an oath to remain the eternal enemy of Rome. At the center of the composition, the nine-year-old Hannibal imitates the gesture and stance of his father, while a bull is sacrificed below. The unknown creator of the scene probably planned to make a larger painting of it because important events from antiquity, such as this one, were typical subjects for the period. In addition, the overall use of pen and brush with white highlights for modeling was a technique frequently used to finalize a composition before realization on a larger scale in oil.
Scholar Source Context
Document identity
localId
166627
label
Hannibal Swearing Eternal Enmity toward Rome
core
obj
dtoType
drawing
pageCount
1
Source metadata
id
166627
contentType
drawing
title
Hannibal Swearing Eternal Enmity toward Rome
description
This scene from ancient history shows a moment in the boyhood of the great Carthaginian general Hannibal (247-about 183 bc). While sacrificing to the gods in preparation for a military campaign, Hannibal's father decided to have his son swear an oath to remain the eternal enemy of Rome. At the center of the composition, the nine-year-old Hannibal imitates the gesture and stance of his father, while a bull is sacrificed below. The unknown creator of the scene probably planned to make a larger painting of it because important events from antiquity, such as this one, were typical subjects for the period. In addition, the overall use of pen and brush with white highlights for modeling was a technique frequently used to finalize a composition before realization on a larger scale in oil.
date
c. 1808
rights
CC0
rightsUri
CC0
language
en
wikidata
Q79997138
genreSpecific
Drawing
imageCount
1
source
import
dimensionsRaw
Sheet: 34.4 x 42.9 cm (13 9/16 x 16 7/8 in.)
cul
France, 19th century
accession
2008.349
Source extras
tec
pen and black and brown ink, brush and brown and gray wash, and white paint over graphite
tombstone
Hannibal Swearing Eternal Enmity toward Rome, c. 1808. France, 19th century. Pen and black and brown ink, brush and brown and gray wash, and white paint over graphite; sheet: 34.4 x 42.9 cm (13 9/16 x 16 7/8 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Bequest of Muriel Butkin, 2008.349
supportMaterials
description
three sheets of gray-green laid paper (faded from blue), laid down on multi-ply paper board
collection
DR - French
inscriptions
inscription
lower right, in brown ink: L D 1776; verso, lower left, in graphite: David
citations
citation
Foster, Carter E., Sylvain Bellenger, and Patrick Shaw Cable. <em>French Master Drawings from the Collection of Muriel Butkin</em>. [Cleveland, Ohio]: Cleveland Museum of Art, 2001.
page_number
Reference: cat. no. 23, p. 56-57, Reproduced: p. 57
creditline
Bequest of Muriel Butkin
updatedAt
2026-05-29 08:36:17.355000
sourceId
166627
dept
Drawings
coll
DR - French
med
pen and black and brown ink, brush and brown and gray wash, and white paint over graphite
thumbnail_url
image_url
Single page context
seq
1
pageIndex
0
type
photo
mediaId
10ef4763ad1dd91c