Scene from Roman history.

Drawing, pen and grey ink, grey wash, 24,4 x 19 cm, laid paper with watermark, unsigned (some foxing).

Roman soldier kneeling before the throne of an emperor, with antique architecture in the background. The elongated figures with small heads and the linear drawing technique remind one of the drawings of the German artist Johann Heinrich Schönfeld (1609-1683). Born a goldsmith's son, Schönfeld received his training with family members in Memmingen. He travelled to Stuttgart, Basel and eventually to Rome. From 1631 to 1651 he lived in Italy as member of an artistic group of painters known as the "Schilderbent", which also included Poussin, Both and Poelenburgh. Between 1562 and 1563 he had a workshop in Augsburg, where he became one of the most important painters of the third quarter of the seventeenth century. The details in this drawing come close to a drawing in the Art Institute of Chicago (inv. 1922.3907).
Ref. T. Dacosta Kaufmann, "Holy Roman Empire 1540-1680. A Selection from North American Collections", Princeton, cat. no. 84.