ALBANI, Francesco
(b. 1578, Bologna, d. 1660, Bologna)

Mercury

c. 1609
Black crayon with white highlights on blue paper, 504 x 400 mm
Royal Collection, Windsor

This drawing is a sketch for the figure of Mercury in Albani's Fall of Phaethon fresco in the Galleria, Palazzo Odescalchi Giustiniani, Bassano Romano. It is an animated and seemingly spontaneous preliminary drawing.