Faun and Nymph with Two Putti

Author: Gert Jan van der Sman

The theme of the woman or nymph resting or sleeping, being pestered by a horny satyr, was very popular throughout Italy at the end of the fifteenth century and beginning of the sixteenth. A woodcut in the book Hypnerotomachia Poliphili, which was published in 1499, is often regarded as the catalyst for this iconographic tradition.^[1] Variations on the theme circulated in all media, including drawings, prints and bronze medals.

In the drawing in Rotterdam, the semi-naked woman or nymph relaxes on her right side. She is distracted by two putti beside her. The standing putto points to his genitals with his left hand, but does not give the impression that he wants to provoke the woman. She actually has more to fear from the grinning satyr lurking on her right. He has laid his hand on her shoulder and placed one of his hairy hooves between her feet. As the satyr does not alarm the woman at that moment, this classically inspired scene has something light and playful about it.

A hypothetical attribution to Piero di Cosimo (1462-1521) has been linked to this drawing since 1929, probably based on the iconography. However, a comparison with Piero’s drawing Reclining Woman in a Landscape shows that his drawing style was much more powerful.^[2] It is equally unlikely that the drawing discussed here was made in Florence, because oblique parallel hatching to fill in a neutral background was primarily used in Northern Italy. As Dennis Geronimus noted, there are similarities between this composition and that in the print, dated to around 1510, Sleeping Nymph with Two Children Beset by Two Satyrs by Benedetto Montagna (c.1480-1541).^[3] Since there are no known drawings by this artist, it is hard to judge whether the Rotterdam sheet originated in his close circle. The drawing can be dated to roughly between 1510 and 1525.