Lot Essay
A drawing showing Neptune in similar pose, though in reverse, is in the Nationalmuseum, Stockholm (inv. 2993/1863; P. Bjurström, Drawings in Swedish Public Collections. 4. French Drawings: Eighteenth Century, Stockholm, 1982, no. 1186). The handling of the figure in the Stockholm drawing is close to the present one, the body subtly shaped with finely drawn shadows giving the figure its volume and monumentality.