"Vicino al Tempio di Bacco".

Drawing, pen and black ink, grey wash, grey and brown framing lines, 12 x 21 cm, laid paper, signed and dated at lower margin "J. Frainçois 1790".

Under passe-partout, under wooden gilt frame (not studied outside frame).

Mythological or historical scene set in Rome, near the temple of Bacchus. Spear-bearing women run from a flight of stairs into a garden with ancient ruins. Joseph François (1771-1851) was Belgian painter, born in Namur, who completed his artistic training with a "Grand Tour" in Rome, where he stayed between 1789 and 1792. The drawing dates from this Rome sojourn. After his return François would become one of the main representatives of Neoclassicism in Belgium. He taught painting at the Art Academy of Brussels, where he trained Madou and Navez.