This drawing was made from Nicolas Poussin’s painting, Bacchanalian Revel before a Term (1632–3, National Gallery). It belongs to a notable phase of Kossoff’s engagement with Poussin, prompted in 1995 by the Royal Academy’s major retrospective of the artist. This drawing was probably made in the National Gallery one morning, the artist standing before the painting with a large drawing board in his hands. It has been a long-standing arrangement between Kossoff and the National Gallery that he may draw in the galleries for two hours before opening time. In addition to Kossoff’s usual practice of using charcoal to outline the composition, in this case he has coloured the work with watercolour. Though he had started using bold, non-naturalistic colouring in his figure paintings of the 1970s, it was not until the late 1990s that this vibrant colour appeared in his graphic work. Compare, for example, the hand-coloured etching of The Rape of the Sabines (1995–1997, collection of the artist). In the later 1990s, Kossoff started making prints from the painting. Unlike the drawing, these prints are a mirror image of Poussin’s painting, as Kossoff works on the plate directly from the work. An edition of twenty, along with ten artist’s proofs, were produced in collaboration with Ann Dowker in 1998. Two prints from the edition are now owned by the Tate Collection. Kossoff continued to rework the plate, however, and continued to produce further prints until 2000. One of the most notable prints made from Poussin’s painting is a hand-coloured piece from 1995–1997. Where the colour values of Bacchanal before a Herm No. 3 are crepuscular and brooding, the hand-coloured etching gives the figures a yellow colouring, with the major outlines executed in red. This process of development is insightful, showing the lively interplay between Kossoff’s prints and drawings.