Nicolas de Poilly the Younger

"[3] Florent Le Comte wrote that the young Poilly (then 21 or 22) displayed "a sense for color so precise and so deeply understood that one would believe the work must come from one of our famous Moderns if one had not seen him paint it.

"[4] In August, 1698, he won the Prix de Rome, for which all contestants painted the same Old Testament subject, The Finding of Joseph's Cup in Benjamin's Sack.

The prize was especially coveted because the winner traditionally received a scholarship to live and study in Rome for a number of years at the expense of the King of France.

"[5] But within days of Coypel's letter the architect Jules Hardouin-Mansart was named superintendent of the Bâtiments du roi, giving him control of the Prix de Pome funds.

Hardouin-Mansart ignored Poilly's right to a scholarship and instead channeled funds to his own favorites and (in a cost-cutting move) to painters already in Rome who did not require travel expenses.

Paintings considered lost include Notre Seigneur servi par les anges ("a piece well composed and elegantly drawn"[16]), l'Adoration des bergers, and Diane au retour de la chasse.

[17] Its location long unknown, Le Christ cloué sur la Croix (which Mariette said "astonished all who saw it"[3]), reappeared in 1969 when it entered the collection of the Musée Boucher-de-Perthes [fr] in Abbeville, the hometown of the Poilly family.

[14][15] Benezit lists Christ Seated, with Open Arms and Raised Head (black chalk heightened with white) at the Musée Antoine-Lécuyer [fr] in Saint-Quentin.