Apollo crowning Virgil c.1641
Green-blue paper, graphite outlines, pen and brown ink, brown and grey washes | 37.4 x 24.0 cm (sheet of paper) | RCIN 911948
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A design for the frontispiece, engraved (reversed) by Claude Mellan (RCIN 807222), to an edition of Virgil published by the Imprimerie Royale, Paris, in 1641. The meticulous graphite outlines here are presumably traced from an original by Poussin, but the handling of pen and wash is too stilted to be by him, and the drawing must be a studio replica, probably by Jean Lemaire. On 10 April 1641 Poussin sent drawings of the design to Sublet and to Chantelou; the present sheet comes from the collection of Cassiano dal Pozzo and may well be a third version.
Provenance
Probably 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
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Creator(s)
Acquirer(s)
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Medium and techniques
Green-blue paper, graphite outlines, pen and brown ink, brown and grey washes
Measurements
37.4 x 24.0 cm (sheet of paper)
Other number(s)
RL 11948