{"meta":{"version":"2.1","_links":{"self":{"href":"https://api.vam.ac.uk/v2/object/O820187"},"collection_page":{"href":"https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O820187/"}},"images":{"_primary_thumbnail":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2017KJ5156/full/!100,100/0/default.jpg","_iiif_image":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2017KJ5156/","_alt_iiif_image":[],"imageResolution":"high","_images_meta":[{"assetRef":"2017KJ5156","copyright":"©Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2018KX4318","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false}]},"see_also":{"_iiif_pres":"https://iiif.vam.ac.uk/collections/O820187/manifest.json","_alt_iiif_pres":[]}},"record":{"systemNumber":"O820187","accessionNumber":"E.4466-1920","objectType":"Drawing","titles":[{"title":"Mythological scene","type":"generic title"}],"summaryDescription":"","physicalDescription":"","artistMakerPerson":[],"artistMakerOrganisations":[],"artistMakerPeople":[],"materials":[{"text":"pen and ink","id":"x30618"},{"text":"wash","id":"AAT11051"}],"techniques":[{"text":"drawing","id":"AAT54196"}],"materialsAndTechniques":"Pen and ink and wash heightened with white","categories":[],"styles":[{"text":"Italian school","id":"x31264"}],"collectionCode":{"text":"PDP","id":"THES48595"},"images":["2017KJ5156","2018KX4318"],"imageResolution":"high","galleryLocations":[{"current":{"text":"LVLH (VA)","id":"THES49654"},"free":"","case":"PD","shelf":"277","box":""}],"partTypes":[[{"text":"drawing","id":""}]],"contentWarnings":[{"apprise":"","note":""}],"placesOfOrigin":[{"place":{"text":"Italy","id":"x28927"},"association":{"text":"made","id":"x28654"},"note":""}],"productionDates":[{"date":{"text":"mid 16th century","earliest":"1525-01-01","latest":"1575-12-31"},"association":{"text":"made","id":"x28654"},"note":""}],"associatedObjects":[],"creditLine":"","dimensions":[{"dimension":"Length","value":"225","unit":"mm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":""},{"dimension":"Width","value":"254","unit":"mm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":""}],"dimensionsNote":"","marksAndInscriptions":[],"objectHistory":"","historicalContext":"","briefDescription":"Drawing, mythological scene: a giant presented to a nude youth, who is seated on a rock or tree stump among three young women, while a boy with winged feet, holding a cornucopia, flies overhead, Italian, mid 16th century.","bibliographicReferences":[{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"Ward-Jackson, Peter, Italian Drawings Volume I. 14th-16th century, London, 1979, p. 233.\n\nThe text is as follows:\n\nSCHOOL UNKNOWN:\nmid 16th century\n\n524\n\nMythological scene: a giant presented to a nude youth, who is seated on a rock or tree stump among three young women, while a boy with winged feet, holding a cornucopia, flies overhead \r\nInscribed on the back of the mount in a later hand (probably of the 18th century) 'Lelio da Novellara' \r\nPen and ink and wash heightened with white \r\n8 7/8 x 10  (225 x 254) \t\t\t\t466-192o \r\n\nPROVENANCE A. Grahl (Lugt II99); Dr Benno Geiger (sale, Sotheby, 8 December 1920, lot 196, under Lelio Orsi; bought by the Museum)\r\n\t\r\nThe attribution to Lelio Orsi, maintained till lately, is not convincing. An influence from the school of Raphael, notably from Peruzzi, is perceptible in the handling. But the pen work suggests a North Italian background. It has an affinity with the few drawings that are attributed to Marcantonio Raimondi and Giulio Bonasone. For some specimens of drawings now generally ascribed to Marcantonio, see Bean, Bayonne Catalogue, 1960, nos. 225-37. A drawing ascribed to Bonasone in the British Museum is illustrated in Popham, Fenwick Catalogue, 1935, p. 34, pI. 22. \r\n\nThe subject of our drawing is obscure, and no student of iconography whom we have consulted has been able to elucidate it. But  it might be Hercules being initiated into the Eleusinian mysteries. The flying boy, in that case, would be Iacchus or Plutus, sometimes represented as a boy holding a cornucopia; the seated man would be Bacchus, and the three women would be three of the goddesses associated with the cult, such as Ceres, Persephone and Venus. This theory does at least explain the gigantic stature of the figure on the right. Compare the illustration of the scene given in a Greek vase painting, reproduced in C. Daremberg and E. Saglio, Dictionnaire des antiquites grecques e  romaines, Paris, 1892, 2, fig. 2630. \r\n"}],"production":"","productionType":{"text":"","id":""},"contentDescription":"","contentPlaces":[],"associatedPlaces":[],"contentPerson":[],"associatedPerson":[],"contentOrganisations":[],"associatedOrganisations":[],"contentPeople":[],"associatedPeople":[],"contentEvents":[],"associatedEvents":[],"contentOthers":[],"contentConcepts":[],"contentLiteraryRefs":[],"galleryLabels":[],"partNumbers":["E.4466-1920"],"accessionNumberNum":"4466","accessionNumberPrefix":"E","accessionYear":1920,"otherNumbers":[],"copyNumber":"","aspects":["WHOLE"],"assets":[],"recordModificationDate":"2025-04-29","recordCreationDate":"2009-06-30","availableToBook":false}}