Lot Essay
The present painting is a preparatory sketch for the artist's reception piece for the Académie Royale in 1702, now in the collection of the Musée Fabre, Montpellier. Prometheus is depicted at the moment when, with the help of Minerva, he brings to life the first man fashioned from clay. In the final work the artist changed the positions of the three figures, placing the life-sized statue at the far right of the composition instead of between Minerva and Prometheus.