The present drawing most likely represents a little-known subject narrated by the Greek geographer of the second century AD, Pausanias, in the Description of Greece (VII, 21, 1-5). The city of Athens, decimated by the plague, appointed a sacrificial victim, Callirhoe (princess of Calydon), to put an end to this divine punishment. Madly in love with the chosen girl, Coresus – the high-priest of Apollo who was supposed to perform the sacrifice – decided to stab himself rather than carry out the act. Lethière depicts this final moment at the center of the composition with Callirhoe having fainted at Coresus’ feet upon realizing his true love for her.

Lethière’s composition closely recalls the work of his master Gabriel-François Doyen (1726-1806), with whom Lethière studied at the École des Beaux-Arts between 1778 and 1786 (Madec-Capy, op. cit., pp. 88-89). Doyen’s Death of Virginia, a painting presented at the Salon of 1761 (Galleria Nazionale in Parma, inv. P438; see Madec-Capy, op. cit., p. 73), and in particular the preparatory drawing at the State Hermitage Museum (inv. OP-18303; see M. Sandoz, ‘The Drawings of Gabriel-François Doyen (1726-1806)’, The Art Quarterly, XXXIV, no. 2, 1971, p. 157), presents strong affinities in style and composition with the drawing under discussion.

Lethière’s signature, at lower left, corroborates the idea that the drawing is a youthful work, made during his training. Only after his departure to Rome in 1786 did the artist begin to use his last name (spelled ‘Letiers’, ‘Lethiers’, ‘Lethierre’, ‘Lethière’ or ‘Le Thière’) and it was not until 1799 that he signed his compositions with both names, ‘Guillon Lethière’ (G.-F. Laballe, Guillaume Guillon Lethière. Peintre d’histoire 1760-1832, Savigny-sur-Orge, 1991, p. 6). A landscape drawing made in Rome is close in technique and in the treatment of the figures (Clark Art Institute, Williamstown, inv. 2019.2.1-96) to the present sheet.

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