Pittoni created at least five versions of the composition, likely in preparation for a larger-format painting. The subject is Hannibal from the ancient city of Carthage (in present day Tunsia). Hannibal is best known for traveling with his troops by elephant over the Alps in his military campaign against the Romans. Here he is shown before a sacrificial alter, swearing to his father that Rome will be his lifelong enemy.

For a connoisseur of elegant Baroque and Rococo art like Richard Neumann, this canvas displays Pittoni's skillful use of a bright palette and arrangement of energetic figures- properties that made the artist one of the leading painters in Venice during his lifetime. The Nazis recognized the exceptional quality of this painting and added it to the "Reichsliste," a centralized inventory of cultural treasures. As a result, Dr. Neumann was not permitted to have it shipped to his new residence in Paris. Instead it was transferred to the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna, where it remained until 2011, when it was returned to Cr. Neumann's heirs.

Giovanni Pittoni, the younger
circa 1723