Two Mythological Figures

Author: Rosie Razzall

This drawing is one of three pen-and-ink studies in Rotterdam that were previously in the collection of the French dealer and collector Pierre-Jean Mariette (1694-1774). They were retained on one of his distinctive blue collector’s mounts until at least 1906, as they are illustrated as such in the catalogue of the collection of John Postle Heseltine (1843-1929).^[1] Unfortunately that mount is now lost, but all three drawings still bear Mariette’s collector’s mark (L.2097) in the lower left corner.

The three drawings were attributed to the Venetian artist Paris Bordone when in Mariette’s collection, with the inscription ‘Paris Bordoné’ on this sheet probably added at that point. This drawing is the only one of the three for which Bordone’s authorship has generally been accepted,^[2] although Tietze/Tietze Conrat noted that the paucity of pen-and-ink drawings by Bordone makes the attribution difficult to assess.^[3] Like many of his Venetian contemporaries Bordone mostly drew in black and white chalks on blue paper, with only two examples of pen-and-ink drawings in Paris^[4] and Erlangen.^[5] When comparing the present sheet with the drawing in Paris, Rearick described the Rotterdam drawing as ‘timid and descriptive without the improvisational energy of his youthful work’.^[6] The Paris drawing indeed shows more freedom in composition and execution, though the parallel hatching under the forearms of several figures provide a possible stylistic connection.

The subject of this drawing, in which a nude female figure either passes a round object to or receives it from a seated nude male, has not been identified. Rearick nevertheless observed some similarity in composition to two mythological paintings in Göteborg^[7] and Honolulu,^[8] depicting interactions between Jupiter and Io and Vulcan and Thetis. He dated these works to around 1558-59, so the Rotterdam drawing is broadly placed around this date. In the two smaller sheets (I 202 and I 204) wash is used as well as the pen, and they may well be by a different hand, as suggested by the looping and disconnected pen lines in comparison with the somewhat denser penwork of the larger sheet. The three Rotterdam drawings are nevertheless grouped together because of their mythological subjects.