An antique replica of a Greek statue of the classical period, the Borghese Mars is one of the masterpieces of ancient sculpture in the Louvre and was one of Cézanne's favorites there. His nine drawings after it capture both the relaxed, harmonious posture and the compact, clearly articulated forms. In choosing positions from which to view it, a process made easier by the statue's rotating pedestal, he opted most often for a frontal view (Chappuis, Adrien. The Drawings of Paul Cézanne. 2 vols. Greenwich, Conn., 1973, nos. 1051-53, 1055) and a view of the right side, as in this drawings (see also ibid., nos. 586, 588); but there is also a view of the left side and even one of the back (ibid., nos. 1056, 1054). Theodore Reff, from Paul Cézanne: Two Sketchbooks (1989), p. 147.