North Italian School, 17th century

This intriguing painting on slate is likely to have been painted in northern Italy in the 17th century. It is possible that the composition depicts an allegory of wastrel youth. The young man appears to be devoted to the chief pursuits of his age, interested in the physical beauty of Venus and distractions of wine, cards, music, fighting, astrology and sporting, as indicated by the array of objects at his feet. It has also been suggested that this work is a depiction of the popular medieval legend first recounted in the 12th century by William of Malmesbury (c. 1095–c. 1143) regarding a newly married youth who places a ring on the finger of a statue of Venus. Much to his dismay, the sculpture and goddess takes his proposal seriously, and attempts to prevent his marriage to his earthly bride.¹ Another possibly interpretation of this work is the myth of Pygmalion and Galatea derived from Ovid's Metamorphoses. At odds with the latter two interpretations are the still-life elements in the foreground of the composition.

We are grateful to Dr Rembrandt Duits and Dr Paul Taylor and for their assistance in cataloguing this lot.

¹ For a full account of this story and its origins see P. Franklin Baum, 'The Young Man Betrothed to a Statue', in PMLA, 1919, vol. 34, no. 4, pp. 523–79.