drawing
- Museum number
- 1894,0516.28
- Description
-
A nude young man (Apollo), whole-length, standing with right arm raised, head in profile to right
Black and white chalk, on blue paper
- Production date
- 1781
- Dimensions
-
Height: 386 millimetres
-
Width: 251 millimetres
- $Inscriptions
-
- Curator's comments
- The drawing is a study for the figure of Sarpedon in Berthélemy's painting of 1781 representing 'Apollo and Sarpedon' (Volle 1979, no. 58, pp. 85-86, fig. 43), his' morçeau de reception' for the Académie Royale (now in the Musée Saint-Didier, Langres). A compositional for the same work is in a private collection (Volle no. 142, fig. 41). Sarpedon was a Trojan hero in Homer's 'Iliad' (book XVI), a son of Zeus killed in combat by Patroclus. Zeus commanded Apollo to rescue the corpse and to deliver it to Slumber (Hypnos) and Death (Thanatos), who took it back to Sarpedon's birthplace, Lycia, for funeral honours.
Lit.: N. Volle, 'Jean-Simon Bethélemy 1743-1811', Paris, 1979, no.143, fig.42; J.-L. Bordeaux, 'François Le Moyne and his generation: 1688 -1737', Neuilly-sur-Seine, 1985, no. X 36, p. 187, fig. 341
- Location
- Not on display
- Acquisition date
- 1894
- Department
- Prints and Drawings
- Registration number
- 1894,0516.28