Until a year or two ago all traces of the original “Erasmus” by Metsys had disappeared, but Herman Grimm, Woltmann, and H. Hymans all identified a picture at Hampton Court as a reduced copy of the original. This is the “Erasmus Writing” (No. 594-331), a small half-length, turned to the right, but with both eyes seen. He is writing in a book which lies on a desk in front of him. Other books are on a shelf at the back, with the titles inscribed on the edges of the leaves, all of them works by Erasmus published before 1517. Mr. Ernest Law[369] suggests that it is identical with the picture in Charles I’s catalogue described as “Some schollar without a beard, in a black habit and a black cap, looking downwards upon a letter which he holds in both hands, being side-faced, less than life; which was sent to the King by his Majesty’s sister, by Mr. Chancellor, Sir Henry Vane, Lord Ambassador from the King to the King of Sweden, painted upon the right light—done by Cornelius Vischer.” The poorness of the execution, the indistinctness of the lettering on the books, and the utter gibberish of the words which Erasmus is writing, betray the hand of some ignorant copyist, though enough of the wording can be traced to show that the philosopher is engaged in setting down the title and first words of his commentary on St. Paul’s Epistle to the Romans, which was begun in 1517.[370] There is a second copy of this portrait in the Amsterdam Museum; and in the 1904 edition of the Amsterdam Catalogue (p. 200), a third example was first described, which is now generally regarded as the work of Metsys himself and the missing half of the diptych. It is in Rome, until recently in the collection of the late Count Stroganoff, and was in the possession of Count Alexander Stroganoff as early as 1807. It is slightly smaller than the “Ægidius” at Longford Castle, but has evidently been cut down, as the height of the heads as seen against the shelves at the back is the same in both pictures. Metsys represented the two friends as though seated in a single chamber. Erasmus is placed on the left, facing the right, and engaged in writing, and Ægidius is on the other side of the room, looking up with More’s letter in his hand, and pushing forward his own book of travels as though about to present it to the Englishman. The same bookshelves run across the background in both portraits.[371] The picture has been recently presented by Count Stroganoff’s heirs to the Corsini Gallery in Rome.