Cybele awakening the Sleep - Toussaint Dubreuil

Artist :

Dubreuil, Toussaint (1561-1602)

Date :

Entre 1572 et 1602

Type of image :

Peinture sur toile

Dimensions (HxL cm) :

97x117 cm

Topic :

Mythologie. Cybèle

Storage Location :

Fontainebleau, Musée national du château

Numéro principal : INV 515
Autre numéro d'inventaire : B 83

Description

Franciade, Book II. Cybele, protector of the Trojans (veil behind the head as a sign of fertility, crown tipped, chariot drawn by lions), goes to find Sleep in his cave and wakes him up. She asks him to send a dream to Dicé, King of Crete, his two daughters, Francus and the other surviving Trojans. This dream will enable Francus to obtain Dicé's hospitality. Dubreuil may also have been inspired by the passage in Ovid's Metamorphoses where Iris comes to find Sleep (XI, 583-709): as in Ovid's work, the goddess uses her right hand to ward off bat-winged dreams, and her light-colored dress illuminates the dark cave. Dubreuil also borrows the children of Sommeil from Ovid: Morpheus from behind, repelling the dreams, Phobetor (behind Cybele, almost in her veil) and Phantasos, whose body merges with the earth in the background. The owl and masks symbolize Night.

History :

2. Made for the Château Neuf de Saint-Germain-en-Laye. Belongs to a decorative cycle illustrating the Franciade, of which three other paintings have been preserved in addition to this one: Dicé offering a banquet to Francus (Louvre), Le Lever et la toilette de Hyante et de Climène (Louvre), Hyante saluée par Francus (Fontainebleau, fgt).

3. Doesn't Sleep bring to mind traditional depictions of melancholic Saturn, for example the engraving by Giulio Campagnola mentioned by Panofsky (Saturn and Melancholy, n°45, p. 336).

Indexed items :

Rideau (fond de scène)

Dais

Colonne brisée

Char

Textual Sources :

Ronsard, Pierre de (1524-1585)

Franciade, livre II

Technical Data

Notice #001106

Image HD

Past ID :

A0425

Image editing :

Image web

Image Origin :

Collections en ligne du Musée du Louvre, Paris (https://collections.louvre.fr)

Fontainebleau, Jean-Pierre Lagiewski

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