Watermark: big lily.

Literature: Dumesnil XI.279.56.II/III;

                 I.F.F. 64 II/III;

                 Le Blanc 227 II/II;

                 Wildenstein 114.II/III.

Fine proof impression of the second state of three before the address. Handwritten annotation in pen and brown ink a Paris rue St. Jacques aux 2 piliers d'or believed to be by the artist himself. Mounted on a 17th century album sheet. Partly with small margins around the platemark.

The print is after a drawing in reverse by Poussin in the British Museum (inv. 1895,0915.922) and related to a painting with the same subject now in the Louvre (inv. INV 7291). The scene illustrates an episode of Ancient Roman history; as the Roman general Marcus Furius Camillus sieged the city of Falerii, a Faliscan school teacher took his young students out of the city walls and straight into the Roman camp. He announced that he had given victory to the Romans by putting children whose fathers hold the highest authority in the city into their hands. In response, Camillus called him a villain, declaring that the Romans must not win a war using deception, but only bravery and force of arms. He ordered the teacher to be stripped and his hands tied behind his back. He gave rods to the youth so that they could scourge the traitor to the city. The citizens of Falerii gathered around this sight, and praised the justice of the Roman commander. Ambassadors were dispatched to Camillus, and then to Rome to surrender the city of Falerii. (Tito Livius , Ab Urbe Condita, book 5, chapter 27).