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Attributed to Nicolas Poussin (1594-1665)

A sarcophagus relief: The Seven against Thebes c.1645

Graphite underdrawing, pen and brown ink, brown wash | 9.6 x 49.6 cm (sheet of paper) | RCIN 911880

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  • A drawing of the relief on a Roman sarcophagus, in the Villa Pamphilj. The drawing was catalogued by Blunt (1945) as "studio" of Poussin, but later he came to accept it as autograph; Rosenberg and Prat (1994) reject the sheet. But it is so close in handling to Poussin's drawings of c. 1644-45 that it must be an original of about this date. 

    Like RCIN 911992, the drawing bears an inscribed number typical of the drawings from Cassiano dal Pozzo's 'Paper Museum', and comes from an album of drawings by and after Poussin and his circle that most probably came from Cassiano's collection. But the fact that Cassiano did not mount it with the mass of similar copies after reliefs in his Bassi Rilievi Antichi volumes (now also at Windsor) suggests that he regarded the drawing as distinct from his Paper Museum - implying firstly that the drawing is indeed by Poussin, and secondly that Poussin did not routinely provide drawings for that project.

    Another drawing of the same relief in the British Museum, also from Cassiano's collection (Greek & Roman, Franks vol. I, no. 30), is significantly different in its details, and it is not possible to conclude that either drawing was copied from the other.

    Provenance

    Cassiano dal Pozzo (1583-1657); from whose heirs bought by Pope Clement XI, 1703; passed to his nephew, Cardinal Alessandro Albani, 1714; from whom acquired by George III, 1762.

  • Medium and techniques

    Graphite underdrawing, pen and brown ink, brown wash

    Measurements

    9.6 x 49.6 cm (sheet of paper)