Zephyr, the west wind of springtime, was often described in Greek mythology as a gentle youth with butterfly wings. The sight of the young son of one of his sitters playing on ropes hanging from his studio ceiling is said to have inspired Prud’hon’s treatment of the theme. The present sketch is one of a number of preparatory works related to a picture exhibited by the artist at the Salon of 1814 (Paris, Louvre). Although the naturalism of the boy’s figure was considered inappropriate by some critics, the composition was generally admired and was engraved on numerous occasions in the nineteenth century.