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figure that Picasso called "a medical student," according to Mary Martha Gedo, played the role of Father Time, lifting the curtain to unveil the truth "the latter represented by Picasso, as in earlier versions of the theme, as an undraped female with two clothed males. He rejected the implausible scenario of nudes outdoors by Manet, Cezanne, Matisse and Derain, popular at the time, and brought the nude figures inside a brothel where he could justify their exposure with the two gentlemen. First attempts are all rather static horizontal lineups as one might experience in a presentation of prostitutes to clients in a brothel. (Gedo 78)

It is important to note here that the artists who were of interest to Picasso -- Manet, Delacroix, Zurbaran, El Greco, and Titian -- had all painted nearly square large format paintings. Picasso was searching for a way to make the composition more dramatic, so he shifted the horizontal emphasis to a slightly vertical composition by combining the dynamics of all these sources into one. The almost square plan denied a dominant vertical or a dominant horizontal movement taking over the painting. The eight foot scale of the painting draws the viewer into its space as the viewer becomes a participant in the arena of the painting. This scale of the masters of past centuries would become a key factor in spatial exploration of the Abstract Expressionists' art of mid-twentieth century.

STUDIES AFTER TITIAN

Building on the studies based on Zurbaran, Picasso turned to Titian's "Diana and Actaeon" 1559, (40A) In this mythological story, Actaeon discovers the goddess Diana and her maids bathing nude in the woods. For his punishment, Diana turns Actaeon into a stag and dogs eat him. Does Diana represent Gertrude Stein sitting in judgment of Picasso's fate? Will this sitting figure eventually posed with an arm resting on her knee an with legs spread in a pose similar to the way Gertrude Stein was portrayed in Picasso's portrait of her, as well as in photographs and sculpture, evolve into a symbol of Diana-Athena-Owl-Gertrude? This will be presented in more depth later.

In these early studies, Picasso moved the woodland scene inside and included seven figures -- five female and two males. Originally, the males may

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