Lot Essay
A study for Théodon's statue of the same subject of circa 1688-92 and now at the Orangerie at Versailles, F. Souchal, French Sculptors of the 17th and 18th Centuries: The Reign of Louis XIV, London, 1987, III, pp. 290-1, fig. 10. The drawing shows a more advanced stage of transformation of Phaetusa into a swann than the sculpture. Phaetusa, along with a statue of Atlas was started by Théodon while at the Académie in Rome.