The above lot is based on a mosaic uncovered in Herculaneum, the Roman town destroyed in A.D. 79 and excavated in 1738. The chasteness of this particular image was popular amongst English travelers who generally found the art of Pompeii and Herculaneum distasteful and indecent. An Italian engraving based on this image is illustrated as part of an exhibition catalogue article by P. Tice in Pompeii As Source and Inspiration, The University of Michigan Museum of Art, Ann Arbor, 1977, pp. 6