François-Nicolas Chifflart was admitted to the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris in 1844. In 1850 he won third prize in the Prix de Rome competition with Zenobia on the Banks of the River Araxes. The next year he won the Rome prize and spent five years at the Villa Medici. In 1856, in this drawing for a now lost Salon painting, Chifflart returned to the theme of Rhadamistus stabbing his wife, Zenobia, and leaving her to die. Youthful potential and strong skill as a draftsman are evident in this charcoal and chalk work, and the choice of theme reveals the romantic bent of this otherwise academic artist. Unfortunately, Chifflart never achieved the official success he desired and died in extreme poverty.