Pablo Picasso (1881 - 1973), Homme au mouton, mangeur de pastèque et flûtiste

Executed between January 22-24, 1967. Signed Picasso and dated 22.1.67.II/23./24. Colored pencil on paper. 50 by 65 cm. Est. 500,000—700,000 USD

PROVENANCE: (probably) Daniel Saidenberg Gallery, New York

Private Collection (probably acquired from the above in the 1970s and sold: Sotheby's, New York, May 9, 2007, lot 320)

Acquired at the above sale

LITERATURE AND REFERENCES: Christian Zervos, Pablo Picasso, oeuvres de 1967, vol. 25, Paris, 1976, no. 269, illustrated pl. 123 (catalogued as the verso of no. 270)

The Picasso Project, Picasso's Paintings, Watercolors, Drawings and Sculpture. The Sixties II, 1964-1967, San Francisco, 2003, no. 67-033, illustrated p. 276

NOTE: The present work reveals Picasso mining the rich tradition of Spanish Baroque painting, a frequent source of inspiration for the artist in the 1960s and early 1970s. References to Old Masters are especially prevalent in the series of drawings from early 1967 of which this colorful sheet is a part.

The artist found stimulus in the full gamut of 17th century painting, including secular, mythological, and religious art. The watermelon eater is the lineal descendant of the cheerful urchins depicted by Murillo, the fruit evoking Mediterranean heat and sensuality. The flute player is a secularized faun, his mythical pipes replaced with a modern instrument, his goat legs supplanted by a mortal's, but the pagan vitality remains. With the man holding a lamb, Picasso has translated his figure from a religious to a secular setting. He derives from that most egalitarian of standard Christian images, the Adoration of the Shepherds, in which humble field hands arrive to celebrate the birth of the King of Kings.

This work is recorded in the catalogue raisonné as a double-sided drawing, but the sheet was divided in two under the supervision of Maya Picasso.

Sotheby's. Impressionist & Modern Art Evening Sale. 05 May 09. New York www.sothebys.com Photo courtesy Sotheby's