Unknown French Artist, Late 19th Century French School - Ganymede - Standing Nude Ephebe - Mixed Media Drawing On Paper

And we are off to the races once more thanks to a heating pad, an ice pack, and five days of a muscle relaxer which made me somewhat goofier and sleepier than usual. Lower back pain at my age is more fun than vomiting! I was doing my usual rounds on eBay France several weeks ago when I spotted this mixed media “Orientalist style” drawing of a standing nude ephebe being listed by an antiques dealer in Bretagne, France. The asking price was affordable but the dealer was a snooty French snob who thought sticking it to an American on shipping charges was more fun than baking French bread in a wood fired oven from wood stolen from the American neighbor next door! UGH! The drawing had such eye appeal to me that I swallowed my pride and executed the buy, hopefully to never, never, ever have to deal with that prick anytime in the future. Unfortunately, there is no signature and no indication as to who created the work. It appears to my eye to be a watercolor with color pastel or chalk highlights on a page from an artist’s sketchbook. If you look closely at the detail photos you will see a beautiful underdrawing in pencil. My guess for the subject matter, considering the 19th century origin, is “Ganymede- Cup bearer of the gods!” Knowing the true story of that kid it should be retitled: Gannymede, bed warmer of the gods." The context of a nude male youth holding a gold cup fits the narrative, so we’ll just go with that. I pulled up some depictions from Ancient Greek vases and they seem to fit the narrative well. Later famous, or infamous, depictions of the youth in the clutches of Zeus are also included. Enjoy

And here are a few images from Art History (Perhaps they should rename the lad.... The Bedwarmer of Zeus... dirty old man):