This drawing by Jean-Jacques-Francois Le Barbier depicts three gold coins bearing profiles of Athena wearing different helmets (Attic and Corinthian) on the obverse, with images of an owl, one of the goddess's attributes, on the reverse of two of the coins. A statue of Athena, after the colossal bronze by Phidias on the Acropolis, is on the reverse of the third coin, at lower right. Decorative garlands of laurel and possibly acanthus leaves encircle the coins in the drawing.
Le Barbier was a French painter, author, and illustrator who studied in Paris, Switzerland, and Rome, and was admitted to the Académie in 1785. He adopted a neoclassical style under the influence of David and took a scholarly interest in Greek culture and art, as reflected in this drawing. Le Barbier closely followed the political unrest and revolutions in North America and France, and one of his most notable works is the representation of the Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen made in 1789 for the Assemblee Nationale.
Watermark: Countermark: D & C Blauw (close to Heawood 3267).
Olry-Roederer, Louis, former owner.
Fleming, John F. (John Francis), 1910- former owner.
Ryskamp, Charles, ed. Sixteenth Report to the Fellows of the Pierpont Morgan Library, 1969-1971. New York : Pierpont Morgan Library, 1973, p. 117.