71 Votary of Bacchus
Pen and brown ink and brown wash; H: 15. 7 cm (6^3 /i6
in.); W: 13. 6 cm (5^5 /i6 in.)
86.00.46 9
MARKS AND INSCRIPTIONS: (Recto) at top right corner,
inscribed log in brown ink; (verso) inscribed G.F.M. in
brown ink.
PROVENANCE: Private collection, England; Anthony
Blunt, London; art market, Zurich; art market, Boston.
EXHIBITIONS: None.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: A. Blunt, "Newly Identified Drawings
by Poussin and His Followers," Master Drawings 12, no.
3 (Autumn 1974), pp. 243-44,^2475 idem, "Further
Newly Identified Drawings by Poussin and His Follow-
ers," Master Drawings 17, no. 2 (Summer 1979), pp. 139—
40, 146.
BLUNT (1974) FIRST PROPOSED THAT THIS DRAWING
was copied from an ancient engraved gem analogous to
the cameo that once had belonged to Lorenzo de' Medici.
Subsequently, a second drawing emerged in a private
collection, London, that is closely similar in the pose and
proportions of the head, torso, and legs of the figure
while having a different detailing of the lion's skin and
showing the figure with torches in his hands (Blunt
1979). It has been plausibly suggested by J. Shear man that
both drawings are attempts to reconstruct an ancient
cameo (ibid., p. 139) missing those sections that are
shown differently in the two drawings. Lastly, M. True
has proposed that the drawings were inspired by a Ro-
man oscillum with a relief figure.^1i. Note to G. Goldner,July 1986.172 FRENCH SCHOOL • POUSSIN