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This small, dynamic painting is a preparatory sketch for a large-scale work, now lost, that was exhibited by Meynier in the Salon of 1796.
Milo (or Milon) of Croton was a legendary Greek wrestler from the Greek settlement of Croton in southern Italy. He won the wrestling contest at five successive Olympic Games, and swept the board at all other festivals. A man of huge stature, he boasted that no one had ever brought him to his knees. It is said that he carried a live ox upon his shoulders through the stadium at Olympia, then ate it all in a single day. Tradition has it that in his old age, on seeing an oak tree partly split open with a wedge he tried to wrench it apart, but only succeeded in causing the wedge to fall out, thereby trapping his hands. He was left a helpless prey to the wild beast who soon finished him off. He is usually depicted in Baroque art as a partly naked muscular figure, his hands imprisoned by a tree trunk, and attacked by a lion.
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