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Lot Essay
The drawing is a study for plate 20 of the Ode d'Anacréon, the publication of which was announced in the Journal Général de l'Imprimerie et de la Librairie on 25 June 1825. According to the introduction, Girodet first planned to illustrate M. de Saint-Victoire's translation of Anacreon before he decided to publish and translate it himself, despite the fact that he did not understand Greek. Girodet begun to work on Anacreon in 1808 and by his death in 1824 it was ready for publication
Two drawings for this series, smaller and less finished than the present one, were exhibited in Montargis in 1983, J. Boutet-Loyer, Girodet. Dessins du musée, nos. 86bis and 88a, the first of which illustrates Ode IX and shows, as in to the present drawing, Anacreon receiving a dove from a woman.
Anacreon lived in Greece, 6th Century BC. His odes celebrate love, wine and freedom. The present drawing illustrates Girodet's translation of Anacreon's description of a silver vase that Anacreon prefers to armour: 'Nouveau Vulcain, en faonnant ce bloc d'argent ne va pas me faire une armure complète. Je suis loin d'être un héros. Faonne-moi plutôt une coupe, et fais-la bien profonde. Il ne faut graver ni les Astres, ni le Char, ni le triste Orion, je n'ai nul souci des Pléiades, non plus de l'astre du Bouvier. Graves y des vignes verdoyantes, avec les grappes joyeuses de leurs raisins que vendangent les Ménades; mets-y aussi un pressoir, et en relief, en or, l'amour et Bathylle foulant la vendange en compagnie du beau Bacchus'.
Two drawings for this series, smaller and less finished than the present one, were exhibited in Montargis in 1983, J. Boutet-Loyer, Girodet. Dessins du musée, nos. 86bis and 88a, the first of which illustrates Ode IX and shows, as in to the present drawing, Anacreon receiving a dove from a woman.
Anacreon lived in Greece, 6th Century BC. His odes celebrate love, wine and freedom. The present drawing illustrates Girodet's translation of Anacreon's description of a silver vase that Anacreon prefers to armour: 'Nouveau Vulcain, en faonnant ce bloc d'argent ne va pas me faire une armure complète. Je suis loin d'être un héros. Faonne-moi plutôt une coupe, et fais-la bien profonde. Il ne faut graver ni les Astres, ni le Char, ni le triste Orion, je n'ai nul souci des Pléiades, non plus de l'astre du Bouvier. Graves y des vignes verdoyantes, avec les grappes joyeuses de leurs raisins que vendangent les Ménades; mets-y aussi un pressoir, et en relief, en or, l'amour et Bathylle foulant la vendange en compagnie du beau Bacchus'.