A photograph of a drawing catalogued by Ruland (1876) as being then in the collection of Édouard Gatteaux in Paris. According to Roseline Bacou (in Jules Romain. L'Histoire de Scipion, 1978), the drawing was destroyed in 1871 together with two other sheets belonging to the same collection.

Other drawings of this subject survive in the Louvre (inv. no.3721), in the Bibliothèque Nationale, Paris (BB.14a, fol.36 bis) and in the Albertina, Vienna (inv. SR 406). The subject is related to the set of tapestries illustrating the history of Scipio Africanus commissioned by Francis I from Giulio Romano, who is held responsible for the invention of the composition. The Louvre drawing has been described as the design (petit patron) for the tapestry.

The composition was reproduced (in reverse) in an engraving now generally attributed to Marco Dente, two impressions of which can be found at RCIN 852255 and 852256. It has been suggested that the ex-Gatteaux drawing (which is pricked for transfer) may be the original by Giulio Romano and may have served as modello for the engraving (Massari 1993). For further discussion, see Bibliographic References.