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Artist or Maker: Poussin, Nicolas (1594-1665)

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Provenance: Mrs Macfadyean, London, 1963.
with Artemis, London, 1979, no. 16.
Private collection, England.

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Literature: A. Blunt, The drawings of Nicolas Poussin. A catalogue raisonné, IV, London, 1963, no. A89, pl. 191.
N. and A. Henderson, 'Nouvelles recherches sur la décoration de Poussin pour la Grande Galerie', La Revue du Louvre et des Musées de France, 1977, no. 4, p. 233.
P. Rosenberg and L.-A. Prat, Nicolas Poussin 1594-1665. Catalogue raisonné des dessins, II, Milan, 1964, p. 750, no. A29.

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Notes: PROPERTY FROM A DECEASED ESTATE (LOT 92)

A study by a member of Poussin's workshop for a grisaille intended to decorate the Grande Galerie of the Louvre. This decoration was the most important commission Poussin received from King Louis XIII while he was in Paris between 1640 and 1642. The artist never finished the work and what had been realized was eventually destroyed during the 18th Century. On the vault Poussin had intended to represent episodes from the Life of Hercules.
Two drawings of the same composition but with minor differences are in the Louvre (inv. nos. 32462 and R.F. 112) (P. Rosenberg and L.-A. Prat, op. cit., nos. A30-1).