Mythological scene
Drawing
mid 16th century (made)
mid 16th century (made)
| Place of origin |
Drawing, mythological scene: a giant presented to a nude youth, who is seated on a rock or tree stump among three young women, while a boy with winged feet, holding a cornucopia, flies overhead, Italian, mid 16th century.
Object details
| Object type | |
| Title | Mythological scene (generic title) |
| Materials and techniques | Pen and ink and wash heightened with white |
| Brief description | Drawing, mythological scene: a giant presented to a nude youth, who is seated on a rock or tree stump among three young women, while a boy with winged feet, holding a cornucopia, flies overhead, Italian, mid 16th century. |
| Dimensions |
|
| Style | |
| Bibliographic reference | Ward-Jackson, Peter, Italian Drawings Volume I. 14th-16th century, London, 1979, p. 233.
The text is as follows:
SCHOOL UNKNOWN:
mid 16th century
524
Mythological scene: a giant presented to a nude youth, who is seated on a rock or tree stump among three young women, while a boy with winged feet, holding a cornucopia, flies overhead
Inscribed on the back of the mount in a later hand (probably of the 18th century) 'Lelio da Novellara'
Pen and ink and wash heightened with white
8 7/8 x 10 (225 x 254) 466-192o
PROVENANCE A. Grahl (Lugt II99); Dr Benno Geiger (sale, Sotheby, 8 December 1920, lot 196, under Lelio Orsi; bought by the Museum)
The attribution to Lelio Orsi, maintained till lately, is not convincing. An influence from the school of Raphael, notably from Peruzzi, is perceptible in the handling. But the pen work suggests a North Italian background. It has an affinity with the few drawings that are attributed to Marcantonio Raimondi and Giulio Bonasone. For some specimens of drawings now generally ascribed to Marcantonio, see Bean, Bayonne Catalogue, 1960, nos. 225-37. A drawing ascribed to Bonasone in the British Museum is illustrated in Popham, Fenwick Catalogue, 1935, p. 34, pI. 22.
The subject of our drawing is obscure, and no student of iconography whom we have consulted has been able to elucidate it. But it might be Hercules being initiated into the Eleusinian mysteries. The flying boy, in that case, would be Iacchus or Plutus, sometimes represented as a boy holding a cornucopia; the seated man would be Bacchus, and the three women would be three of the goddesses associated with the cult, such as Ceres, Persephone and Venus. This theory does at least explain the gigantic stature of the figure on the right. Compare the illustration of the scene given in a Greek vase painting, reproduced in C. Daremberg and E. Saglio, Dictionnaire des antiquites grecques e romaines, Paris, 1892, 2, fig. 2630. |
| Collection | |
| Accession number | E.4466-1920 |
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| Record created | June 30, 2009 |
| Record URL |
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