Neptune crowned by a putto, surrounded by sea gods and nymphs

This large sheet by the Neapolitan Jacopo Cestaro can be connected to a group of drawings by the artist in the Martin von Wagner Museum in Würzburg (see S. Morét, ‘From Corenzio to Cestaro. Neapolitan drawings in the Martin von Wagner Museum - a preliminary overview’, in F. Solinas and S. Schütze, Le dessin Napolitain, Rome, 2010, pp. 294-295, figs. 10-19). Of the ten drawings by Cestaro in that collection, three are very similar in style, format and subject matter to the present one. The mythological scenes depicted in those drawings – Perseus and Andromeda (inv. 7522), Neptune and Amphitrite (inv. 7520), Quos Ego (inv. 1721) - all refer to Neptune, like the present sheet. It is therefore possible to imagine that these studies were preparatory compositions for a painted decorative cycle.