Diogenes casting away his bowl

François-Xavier Fabre
oil on canvas
Late 18th century

The subject of this painting is an episode from the life of Diogenes the Cynic, a Greek philosopher, born in Sinop who was acclaimed by some for the radical simplicity of his lifestyle, eschewing worldly goods. According to his biographer and namesake Diogenes Laërtius, one day, on seeing a peasant boy drinking from a stream with cupped hand, he drew his wooden bowl from his shoulder bag, cast it to the ground and broke it exclaiming that in comparison with the boy’s simplicity it was unnecessary.

The two protagonists in the foreground of the canvas are framed by a superb landscape. From the right the philosopher gestures and gazes at the crouching boy, who is drinking from his bare hand, as through he were a paragon and a hero. 19th and 20th century inventories of Palazzo Sorbello record the painting was commissioned by Diomede Bourbon di Sorbello (1743 – 1811) who in 1792 was residing in Florence and frequented the Contessa d’Albany’s Salon, where it likely he encountered Fabre.