Pygmalion praying to Venus. 18th c Drawing, pen and black ink, yellow and black wash,...

Pygmalion praying to Venus. 18th c Drawing, pen and black ink, yellow and black wash, heightened with white, 39 x 25,5 cm, laid paper with watermark, unsigned (brown damp stain at lower right, oxidated white). Under passe-partout. Wonderful sheet depicting the moment when the Greek sculptor Pygmalion is paying tribute at Venus' altar. He quietly wished for a bride who would be "the living likeness of my ivory girl." When he returned home, he kissed his ivory statue, and found that its lips felt warm. He kissed it again, and found that the ivory had lost its hardness. Aphrodite had granted Pygmalion's wish.