BALDASSARE PERUZZI
50 Odysseus and the Daughters of
Lycomedes
Pen and brown ink, black chalk, and white gouache
heightening, squared in black chalk; H: 17. 6 cm (6I5/i6
in.); W: 24.2 cm (glA in.)
85.00.39
MARKS AND INSCRIPTIONS: At bottom left, collection
mark of William, second duke of Devonshire (L. 718);
at bottom right, collection mark of Sir Peter Lely
(L. 2092).PROVENANCE: Sir Peter Lely, London; William, second
duke of Devonshire, Chatsworth; by descent to the cur-
rent duke (sale, Christie's, London, July 3 , 1984, lot 35);
art market, Boston.
EXHIBITIONS: Italian Art and Britain, Royal Academy of
Arts, London, Winter 1960, no. 582 (catalogue by E.
Waterhouse).
BIBLIOGRAPHY: C. L. Frommel, Baldassare Peruzzi ah
Maler und Zeichner (Vienna, 1967/68), vol. 2, pp. 101-
104, no. 580; R. Bacou, AutourdeRaphael, exh. cat., Mu-
see du Louvre, Paris, 1984, p. 22, under no. 17.THIS DRAWING IS PREPARATORY TO ONE OF THE FOUR
oval frescoes that Peruzzi painted in the vault of the
northeast cupola of the loggia in the Villa Madama,
Rome, in 1520-1523. The attribution of this and two re-
lated drawings—one, in the Louvre (inv. 10476), of Sal-
macis and Hermaphrodite and another, at Chatsworth
(inv. 41), of Pan with a nymph and satyrs (Frommel
1967/68, pis. 48c, 48d), is due to P. Pouncey. A fourth
oval contains a fresco showing the discovery of Achilles,
but the final preparatory study for it does not survive.
It is suggested very plausibly in the Christie's sale
catalogue (1984, lot 35) that the Museum's drawing
shows Odysseus inviting the daughters of Lycomedes
into the palace. It is proposed in the same place that the
drawing may be a modello on account of its high degree
of finish and the absence ofpentimenti. This may well be
true, but the very free black chalk underdrawing, indi-
cating changes in some details, should be noted. Arguing
in favor of the hypothesis are the facts that the pen work
has a definitive character and the drawing is squared. It
exemplifies Peruzzi's High Renaissance decorative man-
ner in its spirited use of line and idealized forms.8o ITALIAN SCHOOL • PERUZZI