Friedrich Overbeck (Lübeck 1789-1869 Rome)

This composition is known through a few autograph versions (for example, Sotheby's, New York, 26 january 2000, lot 161, or Sotheby's, Munich, 27 June 1995), but the quality of the present drawing and the fact it is signed and dated '1841' may indicate that it is the original drawing commissioned by the banker Moritz Bethmann in 1841. In July 1847 the artist gave permission to the printmaker Constantin Mller, to reproduce this drawing in a print.