Frieze with Episodes from the Life of Mucius Scaevola
Ca. 1600. Wash, Pencil, Grey-brown ink on paper attached to canvas.Not on display
The composition shows the following episodes from the first floor of the painted frieze on the facade of the Palazzo Ricci, Rome: Mucius Scaevola crossing the Tiber to take the Etruscan camp of King Lars Porsenna; the killing of the treasurer to Lars Porsenna; the arrest of Mucius Scaevola; and the ordeal by fire of Mucius Scaevola before Lars Porsenna. Another, more damaged copy of this same is in the Museo di Roma, Palazzo Braschi, Rome (Ravelli, 1978, p. 311, no. 516). The quality is not as fine as that of another copy after Polidoro in the collection (D3828), and was probably drawn later, perhaps around 1600. The copyist may have been North Italian, since his style reveals knowledge of the work of such artists as Giovanni Battista della Rovere (1561-1630), and other Lombard draftsmen of the period. The pair of captives seated to the left of the central trophy is copied in another, earlier drawing from the Prado´s collection, attributed to Biagio Pupini.
Turner, Nicholas, From Michelangelo to Annibale Carracci. A century of Italian drawings from the Prado, Chicago, Art Services International, 2008, p.362
