Oil on canvas, firmly laid on hard fibre board
114 x 130 cm (44,8 x 51,1 in)
Copy after the painting of the same name by Simon Vouet (around 1622-1625) in the Gallery of Old Masters in Kassel (inv. no. GK 571). In 1614, four years after Caravaggio's death, Vouet came to Rome, where he was under the influence of the master of chiaroscuro painting and his students Bartolomeo Manfredi and Gerard von Honthorst. In this scene from the life of the ancient heroine Sophonisbe, Vouet joins elements from Caravaggio with influences from the classic style of Guido Renis, to whom Vouet's painting had been ascribed due to stylistic parallels up until the 18th century. [JS].

LITERATURE: Cf. Jürgen Michael Lehmann: Italienische, französische und spanische Meister in der Kasseler Gemäldegalerie, Kassel 1986, p. 26, illu. in colors 10.