Lorenzo Lippi (Florence 1606-1665)

Gaius Popillius Laenas was consul of the Roman Republic in 172 and 158 BC. He was sent as an envoy to prevent a war between Antiochus IV Epiphanes, King of the Selucid Empire, and Egypt. Gaius Popillius asked Antiochus not to attack Alexandria; not receiving an immediate decision, he drew a circle in the sand around Antiochus, forbidding him to step out until he received a firm answer.

When published in 2002, this painting was seen as an important addition to the artist's mature oeuvre, characterized by a simple and spacious composition, almost theatrical in the two juxtaposed groups of figures. Chiara d'Afflitto (op. cit.), who describes this painting and the Erminia in the Museo Rospigliosi in Pistoia as 'una delle testimonianze più alte della sua produzione artistica', proposes a date around the late 1650s. A preparatory drawing for the male figure standing in the background is in the Statens Museum for Kunst, Copenaghen (inv. GB4727).