MANARA - Lot 171

MANARA MILO MANARA ◊ The Metamorphosis of Lucius, Les Humanoïdes Associés 1999 Original plate no. 20. India ink and colored inks on paper 50 × 67.2 cm (19.69 × 26.46 in.) In The Metamorphosis of Lucius, Manara adapts/parodies a classic 2nd-century Latin novel, The Metamorphoses by Apuleius (Lucius Apuleius), also known as The Golden Ass. The narrator, Lucius, wishing to seduce the lovely Photis, thought he could transform himself into a bird by rubbing magic ointment on his body. But the magician behind the spell uses the wrong potion, and Lucius is transformed into... a donkey. Captured by thieves who have come to loot the villa where he lives, Lucius, now transformed into a donkey, will witness the thousand and one misdeeds of his new masters. The album has become an erotic classic, thanks to Manara's incomparable talent. The sobriety and finesse of his almost two-color inks contrast with the crudity of the situations depicted in the album's many sketches.