9 BALDASSARE PERUZZI The drawing appears to show the Greek warrior Odysseus, one of the heroes of the Italian, 1481­1536 Trojan War, inviting the daughters of Lycomedes, King of Scyros, into a palace in a Odysseus and the Daughters stratagem to discover which one of them is actually Achilles in disguise. It had been of Lycomedes foretold to Thetis, Achilles' mother, that her son would die in the Trojan War. To Pen and brown ink, black chalk, prevent this from occurring, she dressed him as a maiden and sent him to live among and white bodycolor heightening, squared in black chalk the daughters of Lycomedes. To reveal Achilles' identity, Odysseus offered the daughters 17.6 x 24.2 cm (6 15/16 x 9½ in.) a selection of gifts—jewels, dresses, etc., together with a sword, spear, and shield. While Cat. I, no. 30; 85.GG.39 the daughters were choosing, Odysseus ordered a trumpet blast and clash of arms to sound outside, whereupon Achilles betrayed himself by snatching up the weapons. At his discovery, Achilles immediately promised Odysseus his assistance in the war against Troy, in which he indeed met his death. This is a sketch for one of the four oval frescoes Peruzzi painted in 1520—23 on the vault of the northeast cupola of the loggia of the Villa Madama, Rome. A second oval contains a fresco showing the discovery of Achilles. The drawing is squared, that is, lightly ruled with a grid of squares in black chalk to allow the design to be transferred to another surface preparatory to painting. An enlarged grid, drawn to the same proportion as that in the sketch, was made on the picture surface, and the artist then copied in turn the configuration of lines within each square, thereby obtaining a remarkably accurate, enlarged replica of his design. ITALIAN SCHOOL 17