645. A Drawing for Montezuma?

The collections at the V&A London include a drawing by Ricketts dated - rather broadly - to 1900-1930. It is an unsigned and undated study in pencil of a nude young man, resting on his back (or deceased), with the left arm outstretched beside his head. The measurements are given in inches: 5.125 in (height) by 15 in (width) [c 13 x 38 cm]. The drawing was presented to the V&A by the Art Fund in 1933 and registered as E.1027-1933. [See the V&A website]. 

Charles Ricketts, study of a nude man (pencil)
[V&A, London: E.1027-1933]

If we can assume that this was a preliminary study for a painting - it need not be, of course - then there is really only one painting to consider, and then we can more accurately date the drawing to 1904-1905.

The pose of the body is even more dramatically twisted in the painting, especially the pelvis and upper legs, and the genitals are less pronounced. 

In 1905, Ricketts completed the painting The Death of Montezuma, also called The Sacrifice of Montezuma. However, the sketch does not depict Montezuma himself, but a secondary figure in the foreground. There are several drawings and paintings in which Ricketts decorates the foreground - as it were - with dead bodies and this is one of them.

Charles Ricketts, The Death of Montezuma (1905)
[Private Collection]

This oil on canvas (75 x 61 cm), dating from 1905, once belonged to the collection of Edmund Davis and is now part of a private collection.