Watermark: Circle with Lamb
Provenance: Wolfhart Bürgi (L.3400) (1901-1989)

Comparative drawings are “Pope Leo X encountering Francois I, King of France” kept in the Gabinetto Nazionale delle Stampe in Rome (inv.no.F.C.125918) , “Echo and Narcissus” and the “Decapitation of saint John the Baptist” both kept in the Musée du Louvre in Paris (inv.nos.579, 583) and a “Scene from Orlando Furioso” kept in the Musée des Beaux Arts in Dijon (inv.no.TH.A2.f.32). As all these drawings are dated to the later part of the activity of Giovanni Biliverti a similar dating can be assigned to the present drawing, to the 1630’s.

The present composition shows the Titaness Latona with her two children Apollo and Diana, turning the Lycian peasants into frogs when they refused her water.