Erasistratus Discovering the Cause of Antiochus' Disease

Jacques-Louis David painted this work in 1774 to illustrate an episode recounted by Plutarch in his Lives. Antiochus, son of King Seleucus I, lies bedridden, wasting away without any known remedy bringing him relief. His father, grave and sunk in shadow at the foot of the bed, has summoned the renowned physician Erasistratus, who sits beside the young man and takes his pulse with his left hand. According to the story, the doctor had the women of the court present themselves one by one; when Stratonice, the king's wife and therefore the prince's stepmother, comes forward, the pulse quickens. Erasistratus then raises his right hand and points his index finger at the source of the illness: a hopeless love the young man had kept hidden. The episode ends with the physician persuading the king to give Stratonice to his son, and Antiochus recovers.

The composition is restrained and theatrical. The figures gather in a shallow space, with light falling sharply on the bed while the king remains in half-darkness, which draws the eye to the physician's gesture, the key to the narrative. The bodies, with firm outlines and controlled poses, reflect the neoclassical ideals of clarity and moral example, and the meaning is carried mainly by gesture and glance rather than by action.

The painting was submitted to the Prix de Rome competition, which David won in 1774 after several unsuccessful attempts, an achievement that opened the way to study in Rome. After the competition the canvas stayed with David and then passed through several hands until, in 1860, the Imperial Household acquired it for the National School of Fine Arts in Paris, where it is still held. It is significant as an early sign of David's use of ancient history to convey civic and dramatic values, anticipating the style that would make him famous in the following decades.

Painter

Jacques-Louis David

Date

1774

Medium

oil paint

Dimensions

120 × 155 cm

Museum

Beaux-Arts de Paris

Movement

Neoclassicism

Genre

history painting

Depicts

disease, Seleucus I Nicator, Antiochus I Soter, love, Erasistratus, physician

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