Though French by birth, Poussin spent most of his career in Rome. This is a study for a painting of the Saving of the infant Pyrrhus, now in the Louvre. A legend recounts that the infant Pyrrhus was carried to safety when his father King Aeacides was driven from Epirus. Arriving at Megara with the enemy in close pursuit, his protectors found the river outside the city impassable; they threw across messages attached to a stone and a spear, and a boat was sent to rescue the child.