Art UK has updated its cookies policy. By using this website you are agreeing to the use of cookies. To find out more read our updated Use of Cookies policy and our updated Privacy policy.

Cornelia, Mother of the Gracchi

Image credit: The National Gallery, London

How you can use this image

This image can be used for non-commercial research or private study purposes, and other UK exceptions to copyright permitted to users based in the United Kingdom under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, as amended and revised. Any other type of use will need to be cleared with the rights holder(s).

Review the copyright credit lines that are located underneath the image, as these indicate who manages the copyright (©) within the artwork, and the photographic rights within the image.

The collection that owns the artwork may have more information on their own website about permitted uses and image licensing options.

Review our guidance pages which explain how you can reuse images, how to credit an image and how to find images in the public domain or with a Creative Commons licence available.

Buy a print or image licence

You can purchase this reproduction

If you have any products in your basket we recommend that you complete your purchase from Art UK before you leave our site to avoid losing your purchases.

Notes

Add or edit a note on this artwork that only you can see. You can find notes again by going to the ‘Notes’ section of your account.

After a friend boasted about the jewels she owned, Cornelia Africana, a widowed Roman matron and mother of Tiberius and Gaius Gracchus (known as the Gracchi), declared her sons to be her jewels. Here Cornelia holds the hands of her young sons, in contrast to the pearl necklace and expensive fabrics held by her friend. Like Peyron’s Belisarius receiving Hospitality from a Peasant whose Son looks on (also in our collection), this work is intended as a good example to show the importance of moral over material values.

The background architecture echoes that in Peyron’s Belisarius, suggesting that even if that picture was not conceived with a companion picture in mind, the Cornelia may later have been made to hang with it. Both pictures were created as preparatory works for the final paintings in the Musée des Augustins,Toulouse.

The National Gallery, London

London

Title

Cornelia, Mother of the Gracchi

Date

1781

Medium

Oil on canvas

Measurements

H 54.5 x W 84.5 cm

Accession number

NG6552

Acquisition method

Bought, 1995

Work type

Painting

Tags

This artwork does not have any tags yet. You can help by tagging artworks on Tagger.

Normally on display at

The National Gallery, London

Trafalgar Square, London, Greater London WC2N 5DN England

This venue is open to the public. Not all artworks are on display. If you want to see a particular artwork, please contact the venue.
View venue