Cimon and Pero.

Drawing, black chalk, 21 x 32,5 cm, laid paper, unsigned (some creases, some foxing, sm. piece missing at lower edge).

Under a passe-partout and wooden gilt frame.

Also known as the Caritas Romana, the drawing depicts a scene of a woman, Pero, who secretly breastfeeds her father, Cimon, after he was incarcerated and sentenced to death by starvation. The story is recorded in "Factorum ac dictorum memorabilium" by the ancient Roman historian Valerius Maximus, and was presented as a great act of pietas and Roman honour. The present drawing may be a free copy after a painting by Rubens with the same subject in the Rijksmuseum.