Chimera

A muscular nude youth stands astride a fallen composite creature — goat's body, roaring lion's head, long serpent tail — one foot planted on its haunch. He raises a spear in his right hand and holds a round shield in his left, his head turned in profile against a bare, rocky backdrop with a few shrubs at his feet.

The scene is painted in graduated browns and creamy whites, without other color, giving it the look of an underpainting or grisaille study rather than a finished composition. Anatomy is modeled with strong tonal contrast and fluid brushwork in the torso and legs, while the creature beneath him is rendered with looser, textured strokes, producing a dramatic academic study of heroic combat.