Mars and Venus surprised by Vulcan - Lagrenée
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Description
Booklet from the 1769 Salon :
"By M. de la Grenée, Professor.
15. Mars & Venus surprised by Vulcan.
16. Psiché surprises sleeping Love.
These two Paintings are part of the decoration of the King's Bedroom, at the Château de Belle-Vue. "
The composition of this painting echoes that of the Mercure, Hersé and Aglaure of 1767, colors included. Vulcan's gesture on the right is ambiguous: is he drawing aside the curtain to reveal the lovers? or is he, on the contrary, preparing to cover them? The gesture is reminiscent of that by which, in iconographic tradition, Vulcan literally snares the lovers in front of the Olympian gods he has summoned.
1. Signed and dated "L. Lagrenée 1768".
2. Door overlay commissioned for Louis XV's bedroom at the Château de Bellevue, near Meudon, in 1766. Put in place in 1768 and sent back to Paris in 1769 for the Salon. Belonged to a private collection in Tours. Sold to Moatti, Paris, 1977. Then to Othon Kaufmann and François Schlageter. Acquired by the Louvre in 1983 (donation sous réserve d'usufruit).
3. Counterpart to "Psyché surprend l'Amour endormi " and "Jupiter et Junon sur le mont Ida" (lost).
Technical Data
Notice #001019