In the context of The Death of Germanicus, analyze the Preparatory drawings? of the Description.
Two drawings taking up the theme of the painting are attributed to Poussin. One is kept in the British Museum. Although very damaged, it already presents the main lines of the painting with a few variations: the soldier in the center does not extend his hand to the sky but holds the hand of Germanicus, thus remaining closer to the text of Tacitus. At the top left, two figures are shown climbing up a staircase, which are not included in the painting. The second drawing, kept at the Musée Condé in Chantilly, has many variations compared to the Minneapolis painting: the number of characters is different. According to the style of the drawing, Pierre Rosenberg and Louis Antoine Prat put forward the hypothesis that it is not a preparatory drawing but a later one, produced around 1630–1632 with a view to the development of a second painting on the same theme but probably never executed.
Tacitus Germanicus Chantilly Pierre Rosenberg Minneapolis center British Museum Musée Condé