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Michelangelo made preparatory drawings for a painting depicting Aeneas taking off his clothes to lie with Dido when he is surprised by Mercury. He provided them to his friend, Daniele da Volterra, who elaborated the details or developed them further independently. The painting is lost but the composition is known from a copy.
The present detailed sheet, with its finest nuances of shading, was created immediately before the painting was executed.
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