Peter Paul Rubens: Symposium Sketch, c. 1602

This damaged drawing shows, under ultraviolet light, Rubens' labeling of the left figure as Alcibiades, the center one as Plato (who would have been in his early teens at the dramatic date of the Symposium), and the balding figure as Socrates. For a detailed analysis, see Elizabeth McGrath, "The Drunken Alcibiades: Rubens' Picture of Plato's Symposium," Journal of the Warburg and Courtauld Institutes, v.46 (1983), 228-235; E. McGrath, Rubens, v.1 p.98, v.2 p.61 (London: Harvey Miller, 1997). Click here for Plato's text.