Cicero Seated with His First Speech against Catiline in Hand

Prince Eugene of Savoy, the Habsburg general, ordered this canvas for the library of his new palace, the Upper Belvedere, where it hung above a door. Its pair is a Plato holding his Republic by the Bolognese painter Giuseppe Carlo Pedretti, a Greek philosopher and a Roman orator for the prince's books. Cicero sits on the ground in a red robe, with the bound rods and axe of a Roman consul beside him. The open book is his first speech against Catiline, given in the Senate in 63 BC to expose a plot against the Republic, and the page shows its famous opening words, Quousque tandem, how long, Catiline, will you abuse our patience. The museum gives the picture to Francesco Monti of Bologna. It was earlier attributed to another Bolognese painter, Giacomo Antonio Boni, and the museum's image caption still carries his name.