Like the Fall of Phaeton (no. 19), this ‘presentation drawing’ was executed by Michelangelo as a gift for Tommaso de’ Cavalieri. The level of finish is exquisite, even by Michelangelo’s standards. The children represent the lowest state of humanity, devoid of reason (also denoted by the drunken slumber of the only adult human) and acting in almost an animal manner, made explicit by the satyress suckling at lower left.