A satyr embracing a nymph

The nymph's pose and physiognomy are modeled on Titian's Salome in the Prado, Madrid and his Girl with a Basket of Fruit in the Gemäldegalerie, Berlin. Another version of this composition was formerly in the Detroit Institute of Arts, and sold at Sotheby's, New York, 15 January 1993, lot 15, as Circle of Titian. Scholars have attributed the Detroit canvas to a wide range of artists in Titian's orbit, ranging from an unidentified member of his studio to Damiano Mazza, Girolamo Dente and Giovanni Contarini (see H.E. Wethey, Titian, London, 1975, III, p. 216, no. C-28). In the late-1930s and '40s, William Suida, Giuseppe Fiocco, and W.R. Valentiner, on the basis of photographs, attributed this work to Titian himself.