Anthony and Cleopatra

A painter, draughtsman and etcher, Domenico Peruzzini spent most of his life around his native Pesaro. The present drawing is very similar in style and size to a drawing by Peruzzini, dated 1663 and showing an antique warrior wearing a plumed helmet (Sotheby's, New York, 29 January 1997, lot 21). Although sold as The three ages of man, that drawing was not inscribed with a title and may have been trimmed. Originally it may have formed part of a series with the present drawing. Both sheets are highly finished, as if in preparation for engravings, but no print is known of either composition.