This is a preliminary sketch for one of the artist’s early romantic fantasies, in which he paid homage to the pastoral landscapes by the Venetian Renaissance painters Titian and Giorgione. In Pastoral, Cezanne revisited the picnic theme of Manet’s celebrated Le déjeuner sur L'herbe (1863), positioning himself as the large reclining figure at the center of a lush riverside setting that includes a bottle and glass still life; he is accompanied by two clothed male companions and three nude female bathers.