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was Botticelli's "Study for the Allegorical Figure, Abundance" (29A). Another was Pierre Auguste Cot's "Paul and Virginia" (29B). A third possibility is a central figure in Ingres' "The Golden Age" (29C).

Study for the "Composition: the Peasants" 1906 (30)

A study for the "Composition: the Peasants" is shown in (30). This work shows a relationship between the garlands floating over the head of the man and the angels in the "Birth of Venus" by Bouguereau (28A).

"Composition" 1906 (31)

The painting of peasants and oxen called the "Composition" (31) was probably painted after Picasso returned to Paris after a trip to Gosol. On this journey, he went through Barcelona where his friend Miguel Utrillo had just published the first Spanish monograph on El Greco. This book contained a reproduction of El Greco's "St. Joseph and the Infant Jesus" (31A) which Barr compared with Picasso's "Composition." Barr pointed out that in the El Greco the flowers are borne by angels and there are no cattle. The relationship between El Greco and Picasso is perhaps strongly suggested in a composition of these paintings than the other El Greco's that Picasso worked from and yet Picasso was noncommittal when asked about the influence of El Greco in his "Composition." This is one of the earliest paintings in which Picasso implies motion. The small head and large arms of the man and the thin-waisted, floating figure of the girl are akin to the manneristic art of El Greco. Two dark shapes, one in the area of St. Joseph's right hand, the other just above the horizon, suggested to Picasso's imagination the heads of cattle. One head is easier to perceive. The jaw is near Joseph's hand. The nostril and mouth are situated near the top of the staff. A dark spot for an eye and surrounding dark area are above Joseph's wrist and on a line horizontally with the beard of Joseph. Curves in the lower left of the landscape are simplified by Picasso. The angels and flowers in the sky became a bouquet in the "Composition." The highlight on the right elbow of the man occurred as a light area of cloud in the El Greco. The shape of his hand was determined by the light area of cloud in the midst of the angels. His hand and the contour of his face come from a shape formed by the angel's arm. Picasso reversed the light-dark relationship of the

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