An elaborate chiaroscuro drawing of Aeneas rescuing his father from the burning Troy. Virgil’s epic poem the Aeneid begins with the sack of Troy by the Greeks; Aeneas escaped from the city carrying his aged father Anchises on his back. Barocci painted two versions of the composition. The first was executed for the Holy Roman Emperor Rudolf II in 1587-8, dispatched to Prague in spring 1589 and now lost. Ten years later Barocci painted a second version for Giuliano della Rovere, now in the Borghese Gallery in Rome. 
This drawing corresponds with Agostino Carracci's engraving after the painting and was formerly believed to be Agostino's working copy after the painting preparatory for the engraving; it is now recognised to be the work of Barocci himself, which was sent to Agostino for that purpose.