(‘s Hertogenbosch 1606/08–1669)
Antiochus and Stratonice,
inscribed on the emblem on the table cloth lower right: Prudentia relevant amorem,
oil on canvas, 140 x 236 cm, framed

Provenance:
Freiherr von Brabeck, Schloss Söder, Hildesheim, by 1792;
sale, Hannover, 31 November 1859, lot 259;
Prince Stolberg, Schloss Wernigerode;
thence by descent

Exhibited:
Halle, Staatliche Galerie Moritzburg, by 1960, inv. no. I/1373 (according to a label on the reverse)

Literature:
A. Roy, Theodoor van Thulden. Een Zuidnederlandse barokschilder, Zwolle, 1992, pp. 155-6, no. 16, illustrated

The story of Antiochus and Stratonice was popular and well-known in Van Thulden’s time. Antiochus, the young son of the general Seleukos I Nicator, is seen confined to his bed with a morose expression. He fell gravely ill after being tormented by a secret passion he carried for his stepmother Stratonice, who is depicted at his right hand side. The reason for his sickness was deduced by a physician, here shown holding the hand of Antiochus, who noticed the increase of his pulse when in the presence of Stratonice. When the doctor informed Antiochus’s father, here seated holding a sceptre, he relinquished his own wife and allowed the marriage to take place between Antiochus and Stratonice, fearful that his son was in danger of dying. The implied moral is made evident by the inscription Prudentia relevant amorem– wisdom helps love.

It is possible that this picture is the one described by Joshua Reynolds in 1781 as by Rubens:
‘At Mr. Dasch’s there is a great picture of Rubens; the story of Seleukos and Stratonice. The miserable attitude of the lying son on the bed is of unseen beauty; the composition of the ensemble is good.’
Alain Roy has compared this picture (see literature, pp. 153-4, fig. 85) to Van Thulden’s The Continence of Scipio, dated 1638.