Cimon and Iphigenia (Boccaccio, Decamerone, 5:1)

Poelenburgh rendered the figures with delicate modeling, employing subtle chiaroscuro to suggest volume against the smooth copper surface. The landscape behind them is rendered in a calm, Italianate manner, with soft sfumato transitions in the sky and distant rocks. A modest impasto on the figures’ clothing adds tactile contrast, while the overall palette remains restrained.

After its execution in Rome, where Poelenburgh spent much of his early career, the copper work entered private collections before being acquired by the Scottish National Gallery. Its provenance traces a typical path for Dutch artists working abroad, moving from Italian patrons to northern European institutions.

Poelenburgh was a leading Dutch landscape painter who settled in Rome in the early 17th century. He specialized in small-scale, narrative scenes that combined classical architecture with pastoral settings, catering to the taste of collectors who favored mythological and biblical subjects rendered with a gentle, lyrical tone.