Erminia seeking refuge with the shepherds

Anthony Blunt, who recognised the influence of Nicolas Poussin, to whom the picture was attributed when it was at Heytesbury, proposed an attribution to Franois Perrier (letter, 11 March 1974). Subsequently Dr. Erich Schleier has suggested the attribution to Francesco Cozza and dated the picture to circa 1670 (letters, 26 March 1974 and 15 May 1999). A similar contrast between the lyrical landscape, reminiscent of those by Pierfrancesco Mola, and the striking image of Erminia whose billowing cloak brings Baciccio's sculpturesque draperies to mind, can be found in three pictures by Cozza of Hagar and Ismael; respectively in the Statens Museum for Kunst, Copenhagen, the Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam and the Sir Brinsley Ford collection, London (see L. Trezzani, Francesco Cozza, Rome, 1981, nos. 23-25, illustrated).

William Court, 1st Baron Heytesbury (1779-1860), a distinguished diplomat, assembled a notable collection of old masters, many acquired while he was posted abroad, including Murillo's Women at a window now at Washington.