Ambito di Bon Boullogne (1649-1717) - Venere e Cupido con corteo bacchico

Scope of Bon Boullogne (Paris, 1649 - ibid. , 1717)
Venus and Cupid with Bacchic procession
Oil on canvas, 64 x 94 cm
With frame, 83. 5 x 113 cm

In the present painting, Venus, lying softly on a stone seat equipped with an opulent, finely decorated indigo cushion, points to a procession of cheering cupids, in procession on the opposite side of the grassy clearing. At his side is Cupid, whose bow and quivers are held hostage by the cupid lying on the ground. The goddess holds a rose in her left hand, symbol of her graceful grace and the eternal love that she is responsible for dispensing. The hint of ruinism, summarized in the short truncated column next to the goddess and in the decorated vase hosting an exotic agave, lyricizes the composition, pulsating with details alluding to the love idyll. The sophisticated iconography of the painting still records the presence of Venus' golden chariot, on which rests a pair of doves, animals sacred to the goddess; in the distant procession it is also possible to recognize Bacchus crowned with laurel on the back of a donkey or onager, which the medieval bestiaries described as being of extraordinary intelligence; the reference to the bacchanalia, and more generally to the power of the feeling of love, indispensable to human life, thus becomes explicit.
The particular compositional workmanship, combined with such a delicate color film, declares the evident French context of the present painting. If the models of iconographic choice abound within the Italian cultural basin, just think of Titian's works with Nymph and shepherd (1570-75, Vienna, Kunsthistorisches Museum) for the landscape piece, Rosso Fiorentino with Bacchus, Venus and Cupid (1531-1532 , Luxembourg, Musée national d'histoire et d'art) and Alessandro Rosi with Baccanalia (ca. 1670, private collection) for the theme, Alessandro Allori with Venus and Cupid (1570, Uffizi and 1575-80, Montpellier, Musée Fabre) for the total setting of the work, and finally Luca Giordano with The Rape of Europa (1675, St. Petersburg, State Hermitage Museum) for the pose of Venus, it is appropriate to imagine a classical training of the artist of the present, directly contact with the suggestions of the Italian peninsula.
The present is exemplified by the pictorial ways of Bon Boullogne, an excellent exponent of the French eighteenth century. Son of art, Boullogne studied with his father together with brothers and sisters, also painters; the artistic turning point occurred when he left for Rome, where he stayed between 1670 and 1675, at the French Academy. The occasion, encouraged by the paternal acquaintance of Colbert, then Contrôleur Général des Finances, to whom a painting by Boullogne depicting a Saint John was shown, even obtained the financial support of King Louis XIV. In the capital, the artist began to dedicate himself to engraving, and made copies of Raphael's Vatican Rooms for the Gobelins factory. He drew important lessons from the works of Correggio, the Carracci brothers, Domenichino and Francesco Albani; he moved to northern Italy in 1673, staying for a long time in the Lombardy area. Returning to Paris in 1675, the artist became a member of the Académie Royale, painting for Charles Le Brun and participating in the frescoes of the Gran Galerie of the Louvre.
The present can be compared to several paintings by Boullogne, which are also examples of his entire career. The same sophisticated plastic structure that defines the figures belongs to Hippomene and Atalanta (1699, Musée des Beaux-Arts, Tours) ; in the Triumph of Neptune (again 1699, Musée des Beaux-Arts, Tours) the same coloristic nuance occurs; the poses of the present Venus were obtained from the works Juno and Flora (1702, collections of the Palace of Versailles) and Venus and Mercury (1688, Grand Trianon collection, Chateau de Versailles) ; finally from the Bath of Venus (Bildegalerie Sanssouci, Potsdam) it is possible to appreciate the ruddy color of the satyr, characteristic of Boullogne's chiaroscuro, made of shadows that set the volumes on fire, like what happens in the present cupid on the left

The frame is provided free of charge, therefore it cannot be a reason for return or complaint.

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