Guillaume GOUDIN (Toulouse, c. 1740 – after 1807, Paris) - Lot 516

Guillaume GOUDIN (Toulouse, c. 1740 – after 1807, Paris) Achillas, Caesar’s envoy, ordering the execution of Ptolemy XIII’s emissaries who presented him with Pompey’s head Pen and black ink, gray wash, white gouache Signed and dated, lower left: 1781 Height: 48 cm Length: 60 cm (visible portion) Introduced as a student of Joseph Vien in Paris, Goudin exhibited his drawings for the first time at the Toulouse Academy in 1761. He was in Toulouse between 1763 and 1780, when he presented a series of drawings on historical subjects at the Salon and was admitted to the Academy. From then on, each new Salon brought its own set of compositions in a style similar to that of Gamelin, with whom he was sometimes confused. After running a private drawing school, he taught the subject at the Academy beginning in 1786 and at the École des Arts after the Revolution. Suetonius, in his *Life of Caesar*, Book 35, explains the context of this episode in the Civil War between Pompey and Caesar. After the terrible defeat at Pharsalus (48 B.C.), Pompey sought refuge in Egypt: “Pompey arrived in Egypt, thinking he could count on the hospitality of the young Ptolemy. A boat came out to meet him and invited him to disembark. Just as he was stepping ashore, he was stabbed to death before the eyes of his wife and son. His head and his ring were then sent to Caesar, who wept and turned his face away.” The scene illustrated by Goudin appears to be inspired by Caesar’s own account in *Bellum Civile*, III, 104. "Dioscorides and Serapion, who had both served as ambassadors to Rome and enjoyed great authority with Ptolemy the Elder, were sent to him. But as soon as they appeared before Achillas [Caesar’s envoy], he refused to hear their message or even acknowledge their mission: he ordered that they be seized and put to death. One was killed on the spot; the other, seriously wounded, was carried away by his men, who believed him to be dead."