Venus and Cupid

Pierre-Maximilien Delafontaine: Venus and Cupid

Neoclassics

 Charles Meynier: Helen and Paris

  

Raymond Monvoisin: Callirhoe

Callirhoe and her lover, Chaereas, appear to have been the subject of the world's earliest known historical novel.

Venus Anadyomene (1848)

Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres: Venus Anadyomene

"Anadyomene" means "rising from the sea."

The Wrath of Achilles (1847)

François-Léon Benouville: The Wrath of Achilles

He looks more puzzled than mad, but maybe that's just me.

The Plague of Thebes (1842)

Charles Francois Jalabert: The Plague of Thebes

The "Plague of Thebes" was referenced in Oedipus Rex, the great play by Sophocles. Modern disease detectives have tried to figure out what it was.

Hemicycle of the Ecole des Beaux Arts (1841)

 Paul Delaroche: Hémicycle of the Ecole des Beaux Arts (left panel)

 

 (central panel)

  

(right panel)

In 1837 Delaroche received the commission for the great picture that came to be known as the Hémicycle, a Raphaelesque tableau influenced by The School of Athens. This was a mural 27 metres (88.5 ft) long, in the hemicycle of the award theatre of the École des Beaux Arts. The commission came from the École's architect, Félix Duban. The painting represents seventy-five great artists of all ages, in conversation, assembled in groups on either hand of a central elevation of white marble steps, on the topmost of which are three thrones filled by the creators of the Parthenon: architect Phidias, sculptor Ictinus, and painter Apelles, symbolizing the unity of these arts.

To supply the female element in this vast composition he introduced the genii or muses, who symbolize or reign over the arts, leaning against the balustrade of the steps, depicted as idealized female figures. The painting is not fresco but done directly on the wall in oil. Delaroche finished the work in 1841, but it was considerably damaged by a fire in 1855. He immediately set about trying to re-paint and restore the work, but died on 4 November 1856, before he had accomplished much of this. The restoration was finished by Joseph-Nicolas Robert-Fleury. [Wikipedia]

A contemporary paean to the Hémicycle was printed in The Crayon in 1855.

Antiochus and Stratonice (1840)

Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres: Antiochus and Stratonice

This myth has been featured here before.

The Love of Acis and Galatea (1827)

Alexandre-Charles Guillemot: The Love of Acis and Galatea

This typically tragic story based in Greek mythology is best known from Ovid's Metamorphoses. Handel wrote an opera based on the story.

The Apotheosis of Homer (1827)

Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres: The Apotheosis of Homer

Ingres was commissioned to paint this composition with numerous figures to decorate a ceiling in the Musée Charles X in the Louvre, now the Egyptian Rooms. It was taken down in 1855. The work, which does not betray its origin as a ceiling painting, draws heavily on Raphael's Parnassus. It shows a deified Homer receiving homages from the great artists of antiquity and modern times. At his feet, two allegories represent the Iliad and the Odyssey. [More at the Louvre]

Nymphs of Parthenope (1827)

Charles Meynier: Nymphs of Parthenope, taking away from their shores the Penates, images of their gods to be conducted by the Goddess of Fine Arts on the banks of the Seine

Here at last is my background image! So I will poll my audience: do you want a new background image? Maybe I'll use something from the 1850 time frame (so during the life of the blog I'll have four backgrounds, one from each quarter century).

Eros Supplicating Venus to Pardon Psyche (1827)

Georges Rouget: Eros Supplicating Venus to Pardon Psyche

"Mortals, do not meddle in the affairs of the gods, for they are jealous and quick to anger..." (apologies to Tolkien)

Mars and Venus Surprised by Vulcan (1827)

Alexandre-Charles Guillemot: Mars and Venus Surprised by Vulcan

Like the renowned painter Ingres, Guillemot was a student of the Neoclassicist Jacques-Louis David and remained his faithful follower. During their era, French academic painters turned to Greek and Roman myths for subject matter.

This picture, which was accepted for the Salon of 1827, illustrates the story of Vulcan, Roman god of metalworking, snaring his adulterous wife with her lover, Mars. Guillemot lavished attention on Venus's sinuous pose and the careful shading of her body, the central focus of his composition. [Indianapolis Museum of Art]

Daphnis and Chloe (1824)

Baron François Gérard: Daphnis and Chloe

This pair has been seen here before.

Mars Disarmed by Venus and the Three Graces (1824)

Jacques-Louis David: Mars Disarmed by Venus and the Three Graces

Here we have David's last great painting. It was begun in 1822 and its progress interrupted by illness.

The painting depicts Mars (the Roman God of war) being charmed by Venus (the Roman Goddess of beauty and love) and the Three Graces. Cupid is at the bottom of the picture, untying the sandal on Mars' foot, his golden arrow placed beside him. However, hesitation is shown in the image of Venus pausing before placing the crown of thorns on Mars' head. [Liberté]

Boreas Abducting Oreithyia (1822)

Joseph-Ferdinand Lancrenon: Boreas Abducting Oreithyia

This is another painting based on Greek mythology. Boreas is the north wind, and Oreithyia the daughter of King Erechtheus of Athens.

Below are some earlier renditions of the same subject:

 Peter Paul Rubens (1615)

 

François Boucher (1769)

Bacchus and Ariadne (ca. 1821)

Antoine-Jean Gros: Bacchus and Ariadne

From the Greek myth, of course. There are many paintings of Bacchus and Ariadne.

The Judgement of Paris (1820)

Jean-Baptiste Regnault: The Judgement of Paris

Pygmalion and Galatea (1819)

Anne-Louis Girodet: Pygmalion and Galatea

One of many artistic renderings of this Greek myth. This was, of course, the basis for 'My Fair Lady'.

The Conversion of Henri de Joyeuse (1819)

Jean-Charles Tardieu: The Conversion of Henri de Joyeuse

The Farewell of Telemachus and Eucharis (1818)

Jacques-Louis David: The Farewell of Telemachus and Eucharis

Eucharis, who does not appear in Greek mythology, was one of the nymph Calypso's attendants in Fénelon's novel Les Aventures de Télémaque (1699). In Fénelon's modern prose epic, an improvisation upon Homeric themes, Telemachus while searching for his father, Odysseus, has been shipwrecked on Calypso's island, and there has fallen in love with Eucharis but must leave her, dutifully to pursue his quest. Fénelon, in charge of the education of the heir to the French throne, offered his novel, "not as a frivolous novel, that is offered here, reader, for your idleness, but a learned parable". Its theme of the conflict between duty and love is a persistent one, central in French 17th-century classical theater, but peripheral to the Odyssey in spite of its erotic episodes. A sub-theme in Les Aventures de Télémaque, of spiritual education, is summed up by Mentor who says, "He who has not felt his weakness and the violence of his passions is not yet wise; for he does not yet understand himself and does not know how to distrust himself." [Wikipedia]

Fixing the viewer with a dreamy gaze, the fair-haired Telemachus grasps Eucharis's thigh with his right hand while holding his sword upright with the other. The ill-fated lovers say farewell in a grotto on Calypso's island. Facing towards us, Telemachus's blue tunic falls open to reveal his naked torso. Eucharis, seen in profile, encircles Telemachus's neck and gently rests her head upon his shoulder in resignation. In this way, Jacques-Louis David contrasts masculine rectitude with female emotion.

David painted The Farewell of Telemachus and Eucharis during his exile in Brussels. The use of saturated reds and blues contrasted with flesh-tones and combined with a clarity of line and form typifies the Neoclassical style, which is characteristic of David's late history paintings. [Getty]