The hidden meaning behind the painting of an old man sucking a young girl's breast

At the Louvre museum, many visitors were upset when they saw a relief depicting an old man sucking on a young girl's breast.

As one of the masterpieces displayed at the Louvre Museum (Paris, France), the relief of an old man sucking a young girl's breast always leaves a strong impression on viewers. Not only at the museum, this painting also appears in many places around the world, with different materials. They all have the same name: Cimon and Pero (or Roman Charity).

The painting depicts the story of Pero’s filial piety towards her father Cimon. The old man was imprisoned for his crime. The punishment was not to eat (food ban) and was imprisoned until death. The daughter visited him every day and witnessed her father slowly dying, which was extremely heartbreaking. Because she was in the stage of raising a young child, the girl secretly opened her milk-filled breasts for her father to suckle. Thanks to that, the man was able to escape from hunger and thirst.

The girl's actions eventually failed to escape the eyes of the prison guards. However, they were deeply moved by her filial piety and love for her parents. Therefore, the old man was released.

However, the above story is just a folk version. According to the famous historian Valerius Maximus (in his book Memorable Doing and Saying of Ancient Romans, during the reign of King Tiberius), during the Roman period, there was a woman who was imprisoned for a crime. Here, she was executed by strangulation. The jailer, out of pity, did not carry out the sentence immediately. He even allowed the daughter to visit her mother, but absolutely did not bring food with her because he thought that sooner or later the woman would die of hunger and thirst.

Cimon and Pero, oil on canvas by Jean-Baptiste Greuze (1725 - 1805). Photo: Alamy.

The daughter, who was visiting, exposed her breast to let her mother suckle. The jailer told this story to his superiors, and the judge eventually decided to pardon the mother.

Many tourists from countries around the world have left comments on forums that they were shocked by Jean Goujon's way of communicating when looking at this painting. At first glance, some difficult visitors even wondered why France would accept a vulgar painting on par with other masterpieces, such as Mona Lisa. However, when they learned the story behind it, they had many other emotions and the initial discomfort and contempt disappeared.

France's Louvre Museum is one of the most popular tourist attractions. Photo: Livescience.

Not only Jean Goujon, many famous artists of all time have been inspired by this story and created paintings. One of the famous paintings is by the famous artist Rubens..

According to vnexpress.net