72 Two Studies of an Ancient
Statue
r
Scylla and a Centaur
v
Pen and brown ink, red chalk framing lines; H: 16.2 cm
(6^3 /8in.);W: 12.6 cm (4I5/i6Ín.)
86.GA.47i
MARKS AND INSCRIPTIONS: None.
PROVENANCE: Sale, Sotheby's, London, July 9, 1968, lot
49; art market, London; Anthony Blunt, London; art
market, Zurich; art market, Boston.
EXHIBITIONS: None.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: W. Friedlànder and A. Blunt, The
Drawings of Nicolas Poussin (London, 1974), vol. 5, p. 42,
nos. 346, 34Óa.
THIS SHEET WAS FIRST PUBLISHED IN A SOTHEBY'S SALE
catalogue (1968) with information supplied by A. Blunt,
who noted the similarity between the recto and Poussins
study of two ancient statues in the Royal Library, Wind-
sor (inv. 11916). Blunt also pointed out that the verso
consists of a section of a trapezopher copied from one in
the Museo Archeologico Nazionale, Naples, that was in
the Villa Madama, Rome, during the sixteenth and sev-
enteenth centuries. The recto also is close in style and
purpose to one of a man wearing a toga in a private col-
lection, Paris (Friedlànder and Blunt 1974, no. 306), and
in the arrangement of figures to a detail at the bottom
right of a sheet in the Biblioteca Reale, Turin (inv. 16304).
It was stated by Friedlànder and Blunt (ibid.) that the
recto of the Museum's drawing shows two studies of a
statue, but it is more likely that two different figures are
depicted, since there are minor variations in the render-
ing of the draperies. The date of circa the late 16305 or
early 16405 suggested in the Sotheby's catalogue (1968)
appears correct.verso174 FRENCH SCHOOL • POUSSIN