François Édouard PICOT (Paris, 1786 - 1868) Allegorical figures of the cities of Herculaneum and Pompeii Paper mounted on canvas 69 x 84 cm Provenance: Given by the artist to his student, Jules Lenepveu; remained in his descendants to this day. Our sketch is preparatory to the ceiling of room F of the Egyptian Antiquities in the Louvre Museum, painted between 1828 and 1831. Cybele, symbolizing one of the four elements: the Earth, and protecting the cities from the famous eruption of Vesuvius in 79. This ceiling is completed by voussoirs where the views of the four cities of Campania stand out on a Pompeian decor. Our painting was part of the Lenepveu collection, a student of Picot.