After Niccolò dell'Abbate (Modena c. 1509/12-Fontainebleau 1571)
Aeneas and the Sibyl at the Gates of Avernus c.1540-1600
Pen and ink with brown wash, heightened with white bodycolour, over black chalk | 19.5 x 25.3 cm (sheet of paper) | RCIN 906318
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A drawing of Aeneas and the Cumaean Sibyl at the gates of Avernus, guarded by the three-headed dog Cerberus.
Though catalogued by Popham (1949) as an autograph work by Niccolò dell'Abbate, the drawing is weak and is probably a copy after a lost preparatory study by Niccolò for his paintings illustrating Vergil's Aeneid in the Castello di Scandiano (now in the Galleria Estense, Modena). As noted by F. Antal (Burlington Magazine, 1942, p. 226), the drawing illustrates Aeneas and the Sibyl at the gates of Hell; in the painting, that scene appears on a small scale in the middle distance, but the present composition closely resembles the main incident in the foreground, where Aeneas accompanied by the Sibyl is confronted by the Lernian Hydra and Furies. -
Creator(s)
Previously attributed to (artist) -
Medium and techniques
Pen and ink with brown wash, heightened with white bodycolour, over black chalk
Measurements
19.5 x 25.3 cm (sheet of paper)
Other number(s)
