Pseudo-Seneca.

Red chalk, 23,9 x 21,5 cm, laid paper, unsigned (sm. stain at top right).

In gilt frame (not studied outside frame).

Study of the famous antique Roman bronze bust in Naples (Museo Archeologico Nazionale, inv. 1516), formerly believed to portray Seneca. The sculpture was a major influence on Peter Paul Rubens (1577-1641), who depicted it in his drawings (New York, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, inv. 1975.1.843) and his painted self-portrait with Philip Rubens, Justus Lipsius and Johannes Woverius (Florence, Palazzo Pitti).