Lot Essay
Chassériau left for Italy in July 1840 to join his teacher Ingres who had become Director of the Académie de France in Rome in 1834. Chassériau stayed in Rome from 25 August 1840 to 18 January 1841. There he executed numerous studies later used for the now destroyed decorations of the Cour des Comptes in Paris to which the present study is possibly related.