Ontmoeting van Scipio en Hannibal voor de slag bij Zama

[After studio of Raphael]

275

The meeting of Hannibal and Scipio before the battle of Zama

Pen and brown ink, brown wash, heightened with white, largely oxydised, on paper tinted brown. Vertical folds; damaged at bottom left corner. Lined.

380 x 571 mm.

PROVENANCE: Christina of Sweden; Azzolini; Odescalchi; acquired in 1790 (L. 2392).

INV. NO.: K IV 2.

Inv. Libro I, c. 32 (`L'abboccamento fra Scipione et Annibale').

BIBLIOGRAPHY: Montanari, 1995, p. 74.


Copy, in reverse, after the modello or petit patron in the Louvre (inv. 3719; exh. Paris, 1978, no. XII 2) for a tapestry in the series known as the Gesta Scipionis. Traditionally the series was attributed to Giulio Romano, but Mme Bacou (exh. Paris, 1978, pp. 22-23) has persuasively argued for Penni's role in the genesis of the designs. The series of petits patrons in the Louvre appear to be the work of Penni, under whose name they were already listed in Jabach's collection.
The composition was engraved, also in reverse, in a print published by Antonio Salamanca in 1541 (B XV, p. 31, no. 5), and the drawing may be assumed to derive from that model, despite numerous differences in details.
The verso of the backing sheet has a sketch in black chalk of an ornamental cartouche.