Egisto Rossi

This sheet was thought to contain preparatory studies by the sculptor Lorenzo Bartolini (1777-1850) for his lost marble sculpture, The Astyanax, known through a later bronze at the Museo Poldi Pezzoli and through original drawings for the project. The sculpture illustrated the episode of the Trojan War in which Astyanax, son of Hector, is thrown from the walls of Troy by a Greek soldier as his mother Andromache looks on in horror. In fact, as recognized by Roberta Olson, this sheet is by Bartolini's student and sometime forger, Egisto Rossi, a respected sculptor who nevertheless counterfeited drawings of both old master and contemporary artists. The lack of structural resolution and weight-bearing plasticity in the figures' forms point to Rossi's handiwork, rather than Bartolini's.
Formerly attributed to Lorenzo Bartolini (Vernio, Tuscany 1777-1850 Florence).