Supporting museums Art we've helped buy Relief of Mucius Scaevola
Relief of Mucius Scaevola Relief of Mucius Scaevola
© National Galleries of Scotland

Relief of Mucius Scaevola

Giovanni Maria Mosca

Art Funded
1989
Dimensions
34 x 21 cm
Vendor
Daniel Katz Ltd
The relief is thought to be part of a group of tablets which represent human virtues.

The subject is taken from Livy 2: 12-13. Caius Mucius, a young Roman noble, penetrated the Etruscan camp in 507BC but instead of assassinating the King of the Etruscans, he killed the King's aide by mistake. To show the guards how cheaply he valued his life he thrust his right hand into the flames. The King was impressed and let him go. Scaevola means left-handed.

Provenance

The Duke of Leeds; Christie's, 7/7/87, lot 135; Katz.

Marble

Share


Scottish National Gallery

The Mound, Edinburgh, Midlothian, EH2 2EL
0131 624 6200
Website

Opening times

Daily, 10am –​ 5pm (until 7pm Thur) Extended opening until 6pm during August

Art we’ve helped buy at Scottish National Gallery

James Adam (1732-1794). Architect and designer
 Acquired
Murray MacKinnon Collection: One Hundred Years of Scottish Photography
 Acquired 2018
Portrait of Max Ernst
 Acquired 2018
The Campbell Sisters Dancing a Waltz
 Acquired 2015
The Monarch Of The Glen
 Acquired 2016
In the Orchard
 Acquired 2012
Zepherina Loughnan, Mrs Henry Veitch of Eliock
 Acquired 1946
Worcester - the Severn
 Acquired 1953
Wooded Landscape with Cottages among Trees
 Acquired 1979
Virgin and Child with the Infant St John and Attendant Angels
 Acquired 1995
Virgin Adoring the Sleeping Christ Child
 Acquired 1999
View of Tantallon Castle With the Bass Rock
 Acquired 1994
View of Garscadden Gates
 Acquired 1989
Venus Anadyomene (Venus Rising from the Sea)
 Acquired 2003
Two Studies of Loch Lomond & Study of Cattle
 Acquired 1953
Tunbridge Rocks, Kent & Landscape with Windmill
 Acquired 1953
Trinity College Church, Edinburgh
 Acquired 1994
Timbered House
 Acquired 1953
Three legends of St Nicholas
 Acquired 1959
The Wool Spinner
 Acquired 1953
The Winther Family, 1827
 Acquired 1988
The White Drake
 Acquired 1996
The Village of Jedburgh, Roxburgh
 Acquired 1989
The Vale of Dedham
 Acquired 1944
The Transfiguration
 Acquired 2007
The Souk
 Acquired 1989
The Sacrifice of Isaac
 Acquired 1992
The Sacrifice of Abraham
 Acquired 1980
The Old Fisherman
 Acquired 1989
The Monument to Philopappos, Athens
 Acquired 2007
The Meeting of St Francis and St Dominic
 Acquired 1992
The Lord Answering Job from the Whirlwind
 Acquired 1949
The Ladies Waldegrave
 Acquired 1952
The Interior of St Bavo's Church, Haarlem
 Acquired 1983
The Immaculate Conception
 Acquired 2005
The Genius of Castiglione
 Acquired 1980
The Crucifixion of St Peter
 Acquired 1995
The coronation of the Virgin, with the Apostles at her tomb below
 Acquired 1999
The Cook
 Acquired 2004
The Coming Storm
 Acquired 1953
The Christ Child Resting on a Hand
 Acquired 1926
The Chalk Cutting
 Acquired 2013
The Adoration of the Magi
 Acquired 2006
Study of Two Figures in Adoration & Floating Putti
 Acquired 1953
Study of Foliage
 Acquired 1953
Study of Foliage
 Acquired 1953
Study for the 'Madonna del Pesce'
 Acquired 1992
Study for 'A Dance to the Music of Time'
 Acquired 1985
Studies of the Paw of a Dog or Wolf
 Acquired 1992
St. Ivo intervening on behalf of the Poor
 Acquired 1992
St. Agnes
 Acquired 1999
Sketch of a springing dog
 Acquired 1953
Silent Companions
 Acquired 1927
Self Portrait
 Acquired 1923
Saint Anthony Abbot reviving a Dead Man
 Acquired 2012_Mahon
Ruins of Holywood Chapel
 Acquired 1994
Rocky Landscape with a Natural Arch and a Distant Tower
 Acquired 2012_Mahon
Rocks and Ruins
 Acquired 1989
Renault de Beaune, Archbishop of Bourges
 Acquired 1972
Relief; Allegory of Water with Putti Playing with a Dolphin
 Acquired 1993
Relief of Mucius Scaevola
 Acquired 1989
Primrose Hill, 1781
 Acquired 1953
Portrait of Princess Benedetto Giustiniani
 Acquired 1978
Portrait of Mlle Albertine Hayard
 Acquired 1981
Portrait of Madame Mere
 Acquired 1989
Portrait of Gianlorenzo Bernini
 Acquired 1998
Portrait of Cecilia Margrete Købke, the Artist's Mother
 Acquired 2002
Portrait of Alexander, 4th Duke of Gordon
 Acquired 1994
Portrait of a Young Woman as St Agatha
 Acquired 1990
Portrait of a Man
 Acquired 1992
Portrait of a Man
 Acquired 2005
Portrait of a Lady
 Acquired 1953
Portrait medal of Francesco IV Gonzaga, Duke of Mantua
 Acquired 1990
Picnic
 Acquired 1907
Pacing Stallion & Standing Bull Reliefs
 Acquired 1996
Models for: Maria Luisa Habsburg as Concordia & Peace
 Acquired 1995
Miss Helen Sowerby
 Acquired 1999
Miracle of the Loaves (Jesus feeds the five thousand)
 Acquired 2007
Medal of Sultan Mohammed II
 Acquired 1991
Madonna and Child in Glory appearing to St Stephen and three other Saints
 Acquired 2012_Mahon
Madonna and Child Enthroned with Saint Peter Martyr and Two Warrior Saints
 Acquired 2012_Mahon
Madonna and Child (The Ruskin Madonna)
 Acquired 1975
Madonna and Child
 Acquired 1992
Landscape with Saint Anthony Abbot and Saint Paul the Hermit
 Acquired 2012_Mahon
Landscape with Christ and St John the Baptist
 Acquired 1991
Landscape with Apollo and the Muses
 Acquired 1960
Landscape with a Waterfall and distant Lake
 Acquired 2012_Mahon
Landscape with a Castle, Lake and Sailing Boats
 Acquired 1953
Landscape
 Acquired 1936
La Via Appia
 Acquired 1997
La Luzerne, Saint Denis
 Acquired 1973
Kneeling Nude: Study for a Servant of Psyche
 Acquired 1988
King Lear and the Fool in the Storm
 Acquired 1993
Jephthah returning from battle is greeted by his Daughter
 Acquired 2012_Mahon
Jane Maxwell, Duchess of Gordon
 Acquired 2001
Italianate View of Edinburgh
 Acquired 1994
Interior with Figures & Portrait of an Old Man
 Acquired 1953
Interior of an Inn
 Acquired 2012
Hubert and Arthur
 Acquired 1956
Holy Family with Saint John in a Landscape
 Acquired 1988
Heads of Children
 Acquired 1953
Head of a Boy
 Acquired 1953
Hawthornden Castle
 Acquired 1989
Group at Tea
 Acquired 1953
Great Gate of Baalbec
 Acquired 1936
Farm Buliding
 Acquired 1953
Extensive View of Edinburgh from Inverleith
 Acquired 1994
Erminia Finding the Wounded Tancred
 Acquired 1996
Edinburgh from the Water of Leith
 Acquired 1940
Edinburgh from Calton Hill & Heriot's Hospital, Edinburgh
 Acquired 1998
Edinburgh from Arthur's Seat
 Acquired 1994
Edinburgh Castle From the South West
 Acquired 1994
East and West
 Acquired 1989
Diana and Actaeon
 Acquired 2015
Diana and Actaeon
 Acquired 2009
Desolate Landscape with Two Figures
 Acquired 2012_Mahon
Design for the tomb slab of Cardinal Carlo Emanuele Pio da Carpi
 Acquired 1992
Design for a Papal Tomb Monument
 Acquired 1997
Denbigh Castle
 Acquired 1953
Dawkins and Wood Discovering the Ruins of Palmyra
 Acquired 1997
Dancing Jester and Imps
 Acquired 1953
Daisy Grant, Mrs Markham
 Acquired 2005
Collection of etchings
 Acquired 1943
Collection of Etchings
 Acquired 1939
Collection of Drawings by Thomas Rowlandson
 Acquired 1953
Collection of Drawings by Richard Wilson
 Acquired 1953
Collection of Drawings
 Acquired 1953
Collection of drawings
 Acquired 1943
Collection of 197 ornament prints
 Acquired 1995
Collection of 16 drawings and 2 paintings
 Acquired 1973
Clump of Trees with Four Cows & Study of Rocks
 Acquired 1953
Cleopatra and Octavian
 Acquired 1992
Christ Presented to the People (Ecce Homo)
 Acquired 1992
Christ Healing the Blind Man
 Acquired 1994
Central panel for the triptych 'Lamentation of Christ with a group of donors'
 Acquired 1998
Cabbage Garden
 Acquired 2007
Bust of Philippe d'Orleans, Regent of France
 Acquired 1998
Bust of Cardinal Carlo Antonio dal Pozzo (1547-1607)
 Acquired 1987
Buildings on a River
 Acquired 1905
Baths of Diocletian, Rome
 Acquired 1953
Bab Sidi Ghaza, Tunis
 Acquired 1989
Angels Escourting Lot and His Family from Sodom
 Acquired 1986
Andiron (or firedog)
 Acquired 1997
An Old Woman Cooking Eggs
 Acquired 1955
An Allegory (Fàbula)
 Acquired 1989
Alexander III of Scotland rescued from the Fury of a Stag
 Acquired 1988
Album of drawings by E V Utterson
 Acquired 1953
Account books containing sketches
 Acquired 1988
A Young Man with a Basket of Fruit
 Acquired 1999
A Woman Running to the Right; Study for Erminia
 Acquired 1997
A View of the Valkhof, Nijmegen
 Acquired 1972
A View of the Square in the Kastel Looking Towards the Ramparts
 Acquired 1990
A View of Florence from the North Bank of the Arno
 Acquired 1998
A Herd Boy
 Acquired 2007
A Fragment: Four Male Nude Figures
 Acquired 1934
A Daydream
 Acquired 1999
A Country Church
 Acquired 1953
A collection of Alan Ramsay Papers
 Acquired 1931
A collection of 55 works on paper
 Acquired 2007
A Boy Blowing on a Firebrand to Light a Charcoal
 Acquired 1990
1) Rome; View on the Tiber; 2) Roslin Castle; 3) Baalbec; 4) Mosque of Metwalis, Cairo; 5) Hindoo Architecture; 6) St Patrick's Church, Cowgate; 7) Mont St Michel
 Acquired 2007

One of the treasures of the National Gallery is Diego Velázquez's painting An Old Woman Cooking Eggs. One of the artist's earlier works, it belongs to the bodegón (kitchen scene) tradition and was painted from life models.

The Art Fund broke new ground when it saved Sandro Botticelli's Virgin Adoring the Sleeping Christ Child for the nation in 1999. In little over a month, the largest grant ever provided by the Art Fund at the time, £550,000, secured what is probably the most famous painting to be acquired by any museum in the UK in the second half of the 20th century.

Some of the the gallery's most famous works have been joint purchases, acquired after energetic Art Fund campaigns: Antonio Canova's iconic marble sculpture, The Three Graces, is shared with the V&A, while Titian's two masterpieces, Diana and Actaeon and Diana and Callisto are jointly owned with the National Gallery in London.

Read more
Read less


Exhibitions at Scottish National Gallery

Temporarily closed
Titian, Rape of Europa, 1562

Titian: Love, Desire, Death

Back to top
Your privacy

Art Fund aims to improve the services we offer. Cookies and similar technologies allow us to better understand your needs and improve your experience on our website.

To find out more, read our cookie policy or to manage your settings click here.

  • Type of browser and its settings
  • Cookie information
  • The IP address from which the device accesses a client’s website or mobile application
  • Information about the geographic location of the device when it accesses a website or mobile application

  • Remember your login details and store your preferences
  • Create a better, more personalised experience
  • Help us understand how people interact with our website and how this could be improved
  • Make our advertising and communications efforts more efficient with measurement and targeting