Born near Paris, Jean Lemaire was known as 'Le Gros Lemaire' to distinguish him from his younger brother, called 'Le Petit Lemaire' (1612-1688). After studying with Claude Vignon, Lemaire was in Rome by 1613. In 1624 he was recorded as sharing quarters with Nicolas Poussin in via Ferratina, where their fellow countryman Simon Vouet also had a studio. Lemaire and Poussin were living together in via del Babuino by 1629, and soon after Cassiano dal Pozzo became the dealer of both artists. Several works executed by the two painters in collaboration are known from this period, including Theseus finding his father’s Sword (c.1636; Chantilly, Musée Condé). Lemaire had returned to Paris by 1639, when he was appointed 'Garde du Cabinet de peintre de Sa Majesté et son Chasteau du Louvre et Thuilleries’, the first nucleus of the future Louvre Museum. Under Poussin’s direction he contributed to the decoration of the Grande Galerie of the Louvre in 1641-2.

This imposing view of the Colosseum with an artist sketching is an important addition to the sixty or so known works by Jean Lemaire, none of which are signed or dated. It is conceivably the picture by the artist recorded as 'Un quadro alto palmi 6 largo palmi 8 con la prospettiva del Coliseo mano del Lamer scudi 35' which entered the collection of of Gian Maria Roscioli, a prelate at the Barberini court, on 2 September 1634 (M. Fagiolo dell’Arco, Jean Lemaire: Pittore “Antiquario”, Rome, 1996 , p. 251). The Colosseum had also been the subject of another picture executed by 19 January 1630, during the time that Lemaire was living with Poussin in via del Babuino. That work was commissioned by Cassiano dal Pozzo for his Florentine client Agnolo Gaddi, along with a view of Pontemolle, the two paintings being described as “due pezzi de’ grandi” (ibid., p. 13). The pose of the seated young artist, shown in classical dress, can be compared with the figure sketching in Lemaire’s Classical ruins in a landscape in the Royal Collection (c.1630-40).

The attribution to Lemaire has been independently confirmed by Alastair Laing and Timothy Standring (private communications with the owner).