Excavated from St. Peter’s Basicilica in Rome in 1626 and acquired by Cardinal Francesco Barberini [1597-1679];{1} by descent to the Barberini heirs, the Sciarra Colonna family, Rome, and on view in the Galleria Sciarra;{2} sold from this collection, possibly to Baron Rothschild, Paris.{3} European art market, about 1939.{4} (Demotte, Inc, New York).{5} (Joseph Brummer, New York); sale at (Parke-Bernet , New York) in 1949.{6} (French & Company, Inc, New York) by 1957.{7} Mr. and Mrs. Alan Hartman; given to the Indianapolis Museum of Art in 1972 (72.148).

{1} See Giuseppe Pucci, “L’epitaffio di Flavio Agricola e un disegno della collezione Dal Posso-Albani,” Bollettino della Commissione Archeologica Communale de Roma, vol. 81 (1968-69), pp. 173-177.
{2} The arcophagus lid appears as no. 3415, in the Sciarra Palace, in Friedrich Matz and Friedrich von Duhn, Antike Bildwerke in Rom, vol. 2, 1881, p. 479.
{3}Pucci notes that this was the speculation of the Italian archaeologist and publicist, Costantino Maes, who was dismayed that Maffeo Sciarra [1850-1925] was selling items abroad. Baron Alphonse Rothschild did buy at least two paintings from the Sciarra collection.
{4} As noted by Cornelius C. Vermeule, “The Dal Pozzo-Albini Drawings of Classical Antiquities in the Royal Library at Windsor Castle,” Transactions of the American Philosophical Society, vol. 56, part 2, 1966, p. 37.
{5}Given as a previous owner in the 1949 Parke-Bernet auction catalogue, cited below.
{6}Parke-Bernet, New York, Classical and Medieval Stone Sculptures…Part III of the Art Collection Belonging to the Estate of the Late Joseph Brummer, 8-9 June, 1949, lot no. 505.
{7}See the advertisement, with an illustration of the sculpture, in the New York Times, 10 November 1957.