Although born in lyons, stella received his artistic formation during his eighteen years in italy (1616–34), where he and another french expatriate artist, nicolas poussin, became close friends. Like many painters of the time, stella and poussin interpreted scenes from ancient roman history. The rape of the sabines was one such subject. Seeking wives in order to establish families, the first romans invited the neighboring sabine people to a festival. At a signal from their leader, romulus, the romans abducted the young women and wed them. Poussin depicted this foundation myth as well, in two paintings (louvre and metropolitan museum of art). The painters’ works were similar enough that after stella died a number of his canvases, including this one, were wrongly attributed to the more famous artist, poussin. Object Type: painting. Genre: mythological painting. Date: mid 17th century. Place of creation: France. Dimensions: height: 116 cm (45.6 in); width: 163.5 cm (64.3 in); frame: height: 147.5 cm (58 in); width: 196 cm (77.1 in); depth: 10 cm (3.9 in). Medium: oil on canvas. Collection: Princeton University Art Museum. Stella, Jacques, The Rape of the Sabines, mid 17th century
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