Camillus Handing the Falerian Schoolmaster over to his Pupils

Camillus Handing the Falerian Schoolmaster over to his Pupils is a 1637 oil on canvas painting by Nicolas Poussin, in the Louvre since its seizure for the state in 1794. It shows a scene from the capture of Falerii in Chapter 10 of Camillus, one of the Parallel Lives by Plutarch, in which Marcus Furius Camillus punishes a Falerian schoolmaster who hoped to gain favour by handing over his pupils to the Romans besieging the city.

It was one of nine works commissioned by Louis Phélypeaux, Seigneur of La Vrillière for the gilded gallery at his new hôtel de La Vrillière in Paris. Henri Sauval accounted Camillus the finest of the set. Camillus and the hôtel were sold in 1705 to Louis Raulin Rouillé (contrôleur général des Postes), then in 1713 by Rouillé's widow to Louis-Alexandre de Bourbon. They both passed to his son Louis de Bourbon, duc de Penthièvre, from whom they were seized in 1794.