The Piazza Bocca della Verità, Rome, with elegant ladies before the Temple of Fortuna Virilis, S. Maria in Cosmedin and the Temple of Hercules Victor beyond

The composition derives from a drawing by Matthijs Bril sold in these Rooms, 6 July 1999, lot 220 (fig. a). That work was one of a series of nine drawings of similar size depicting views of Roman ruins, eight of which are in the Louvre, Paris (see F. Lugt, Inventaire général des dessins des écoles du nord, Ecole Flamande, Paris, 1949, I, nos. 356-63), whose attribution is confirmed by Paul Bril's inscription on the reverse of one of the Louvre drawings: 'dit is een van de beste desenne die Ick van matijs broeder nae het leeven hebe [this one of the best drawing after life that I have of my brother Matthijs].' After Matthijs' death in 1583, the series was kept together by his brother, under whose care they were copied by various of his pupils and contemporaries in Rome, including Jan Brueghel I.