Jean Léon Gérôme

Gerome is the consummate academic artist of the mid-nineteenth century. Hailed for his superb technique, he turned his attention to North African subjects as well as history and mythology, all populated by exquisitely crafted female nudes. This drawing is a study related to the painting "Leda and the Swan," executed circa 1895 (formerly Forbes Magazine Collection; sold, Sotheby's, New York, 13 October 1993, lot 55). According to Greek mythology, the god Zeus was captivated by the beauty of Leda, the wife of the King of Sparta. He transformed himself into a swan and approached her as she bathed, either seducing her or raping her, depending on the source. Artists have depicted this bizarre coupling in various ways, from violent to affectionate, but often choosing the moment of embrace. Gerome, who frequently ignored pictorial tradition and found new modes of representing familiar subjects, depicts Leda bathing in a lush river or pond with children swimming alongside Zeus/the Swan and putti hovering above as they usher the god to the object of his affection.
According to the inscription, Gerome gifted this drawing to a friend of his who commissioned the painting, though frustratingly, we do not know the friend's name. It is one of several drawings of Leda from a group that appeared on the market in the 1970s.