Oil on copper, 13.5cm by 22.5cm. Signed and dated on the reverse: Filippo Laoro.F. 1681, monogrammed on a rock, ‘F.l’.
The painting was purchased by John, 5th Earl of Exeter (1648-1700) in 1684, whilst on his second Grand Tour.
It is recorded in the 1688 Burghley Inventory: ‘My Lady’s Clossett….Appollo flaying a Satyr by phillipo lauro.’
Filippo Lauri, the son of a Flemish landscape painter, was born in Rome, where he remained active for most of his life.
Amongst other things, he frequently painted small-scale figures in the canvasses of Claude Lorraine (1600-1682).
Lauri was one of the principal artists patronised by Lord Exeter, who bought several of his works.
