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Boy Seated on a Sea-Monster

Artist: Allan, David · 1744-1796

Boy Seated on a Sea-Monster

The present drawing may be after the antique although the suggestion that it depicts Triton the sea-god son of Poseidon and Amphirite may not be…

The present drawing may be after the antique although the suggestion that it depicts Triton the sea-god son of Poseidon and Amphirite may not be accurate as Triton is traditionally depicted with the upper body of a human and the lower body of a fish, and with his usual attribute a conch shell.

Moreover the seated figure of the youth, rather than a boy, adopts a pose of domination over the monster, pinning its lower jaw open and its fin immobilised by the strategic placing of his feet. This would seem at odds with Triton who would be expected to be at one with the creatures of the sea he inhabited. It may therefore be intended to represent Perseus who rescued Andromeda from a sea-monster.

It is likely that Allan would have had access to such source material during his time in Italy (1764-78) however the drawing has been dated to nearer the end of his life when he was back in Edinburgh and recently appointed as Master of the Trustees' Academy.