Recently, I purchased a piece from an auction house. It was purportedly a print according to the sale catalogue. I was not completely convinced of this, but the image shown was not good enough to say otherwise. It was in a cheap frame, with no glass, a ripped mount, and fairly abused, but I purchased it anyway. Not till I got it home could I examine it close-up to actually see what I had purchased.
The artwork is actually a drawing. Black, brown, and white chalk (highlighting) with added graphite to add shimmer and definition. The image it displays is of Neptune saving Amymone from a satyr. At this point, I will say that it is a magnificent artwork.
This drawing was created by #FrançoisBoucher (1703-1770). Boucher was a painter, draughtsman and etcher. He is renowned for his decorative allegories, idyllic pastoral scenes, and portraiture. He was the most celebrated artist of the 18th century. His talent won him the many honours, including ‘First painter to the King‘ and patrons such as Madame de Pompadour. He designed theatre costumes and sets. He created scenes used on Vincennes and Sevres porcelain. He produced drawings for tapestries woven by Beauvais and Gobelins.
The oil painting of this scene hangs in the #MuséedesBeaux-ArtsdeRenne, but this scene was originally created to be a central medallion on a tapestry. One of a series of four (a tenture): ‘Aurora and Cephalus’, ‘Vertumnus and Pomona’, Neptune and Amymone’ and ‘Venus and Vulcan’, all of which are taken from Ovid’s ‘Metamorphoses’. The four images also serve as allegories of the four elements, Air, Earth, Water, and Fire, respectively.
From the images, we see Boucher’s chalk technique at its very best, his draughtsmenship sublime, creating a drawing that displays his mastery of the chalk medium. There is found in many of Boucher’s allegorical images a touch of the erotic, an amorous sensuality.
The title of the piece is ‘Quos ego…’ or ‘Neptune apaisant les flots’. Translated it reads ‘Whom I…’ or ‘Neptune calms the floods’, which comes from Virgil’s Aeneid.
In this allegory of Water, we see #Neptune coming to the rescue of the nymph Amymone, who had gone into the drought-stricken wilderness in search of water, only to be set upon by a lustful satyr, trident in hand, poised to slay the satyr.
Boucher created his drawings not only as preparatory studies for his paintings and prints but also as finished artworks. The beauty of the hands, the perfection of the physical body, the horses, the cherubs. Need I go on? Everything says a Master has done this.
I also know that at some point, this piece was in the possession of Danish artist and collector #HubertGeorgesDésiréDupond (1901-1981) since it bears his mark. It’s an amazing piece to have acquired into my collection.
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