A vigorous, swiftly drawn copy after the antique
Bacchus of Mazarin, also called the
Bacchus of Versailles, in the Louvre, seen from the front. The effect of light and shade is vivid, but Cézanne's chief interest seems to have been the figure's relaxed, gracefully curving stance, with the left leg straight and the other bent, the left arm bent and the other straight. On this model of classical contrapposto he then based the stance of one version of his bather with outstretched arms (Venturi, Lionello.
Cézanne, son art--son oeuvre. 2 vols. Paris, 1936, no. 544). Theodore Reff, from
Paul Cézanne: Two Sketchbooks (1989), p. 31.