Lot Essay
Although the present relief was described as being after Guglielmo della Porta in the catalogue of the Loyd Collection (loc. cit.) there are only very general similarities between this relief and della Porta's composition of the same subject. Indeed, there are equally strong stylistic grounds for suggesting an origin in the circle of Paulus van Vianen (1570-1613) including the prominent use of the tree to the right, and the naturalistic details of the rocks and foliage in the foreground which are to be found in works such as Vianen's Feast of the Gods of 1604 (see Weber, op. cit., no. 929).