DescriptionRubens was keenly interested in classical antiquity and Italian Renaissance art, subjects with which he acquired a deep familiarity during an extended stay in Italy from 1600 to 1608. It was during this period that he acquired a celebrated Roman portrait bust then believed to represent the Stoic philosopher Seneca. The artist brought the bust with him when he returned to Antwerp, and it appears in a number of his paintings, prints, and drawings. This sheet served as Rubens's model for an engraving of 1638, part of a series of twelve ancient Greek philosophers, Roman generals, and emperors.

ProvenancePierre Crozat, Paris; L. D. Lempereur, Paris; Lempereur sale, Joullain/Boilleau, Paris, May 24–June 24, 1773, to Basan; Henri Duval, Liège, France; Duval sale, Frederik Muller, Amsterdam, June 22–23 1910, lot 336; [Richard Ederheimer, New York]