Jean-Baptiste Le Prince

As Louis-Antoine Prat has kindly pointed out, these figures are taken from Rubens’ major painting of 1622-23, The Head of Cyrus Brought to Queen Tomyris, in the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston (inv. 41.40).

With William Beadleston, Inc., New York, by 1989

Le Prince lived in Russia between 1758 and 1763, based in St. Petersburg, but travelling extensively throughout the country and to its more exotic regions.  This provided him with much material for his paintings and drawings when he returned to France, and fed the taste for russeries among collectors.  He published prints and etchings after his drawings, and he provided the illustrations for the Abbé Chappe d'Autreroche's Voyage en Sibérie, 1768.

The posthumous sale of the contents of Le Prince's studio (Paris, J.P.B. LeBrun, 28 November 1781) contained many drawings with Russian subjects, as well as sketchbooks made during his travels.