Servius Tullius When a Child, Asleep in the Apartment of King Tarquinius Priscus
ca. 1785
Medium
Pen and brown ink, brush and gray ink, heightened with white chalk, on blue paper
Dimensions
Sheet: 11 15/16 in. × 17 in. (30.3 × 43.2 cm)
Classification
Drawings
Department
Drawings and Prints
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Van Day Truex Fund, 2016
Accession Number
2016.456
Art Historical Context
In this evocative drawing from around 1785, Angelica Kauffmann captures a pivotal moment from Roman legend: the young Servius Tullius, king of Rome, asleep the palace of King Tarquiniusiscus. According to ancient sources like Livy, a flame miraculously appeared above the sleeping child's head, signaling his divine destiny without harming him. Kauffmann, a leading Neoclassical artist and one of the first women elected to London's Royal Academy, masterfully conveys the scene's quiet drama, blending historical narrative with emotional tenderness. Executed on blue prepared paper—a favored 18th-ce...
About the Artist
Angelica Kauffmann · 1741–1807
Swiss painter and etcher, and one of the few women artists of the time working in the Neo-Classical style to specialize in both portraits and subject pictures. Her famous sitters include the family of George III in Britain, Grand-Duke Paul and Prince Nikolay Yusupov in Russia, Stanislav II Poniatowski and Stanislav Kostka Potocki in Poland, Queen Caroline of Naples and Emperor Joseph II of Austria...