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These drafts represent Daniele da Volterra's earliest ideas for a painting depicting Aeneas taking off his clothes to lie with Dido when he is surprised by Mercury. The painting is lost but the composition is known from a copy. Michelangelo made preparatory drawings for the painting and provided them to his friend. Daniele elaborated the details or developed them further independently.
The present drawing depicts Aeneas with a boy in three different views. Here the artist was clarifying the motif of the boy helping the hero to remove his cloak. Daniele probably used a three-dimensional model for the group.
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