French School, circa 1800

Painted on an Italian canvas, probably by a French artist working in Rome, this classicising frieze shows the impact of the discovery of Pompeii and Herculaneum on European painting and design. The use of a single, richly saturated colour for the background recalls Pompeiian wall painting--for example, that in the Villa of the Mysteries.

The subject, which appears to celebrate the Greek philosopher Claudius Galen's role as Rome's most celebrated physician, relates to the images of legendary Roman heroes created by the Rome-trained French artist Jean Guillaume Moitte (d. 1810) (see G. Gramaccini, Jean-Guillaume Moitte, Berlin, 1993).