Louis Boullogne the Younger
Apollo and Daphne
Oil on canvas
h: 75,50 w: 139 cm
Private collection
This painting illustrates an episode taken from Ovid's Metamorphoses (I, 464-577). Falling in love with the nymph Daphne, determined to remain chaste, Apollo pursues her in the woods. Begging her father, the river god Peneus, to deliver her, Daphne is then transformed into a laurel. Louis de Boullogne produced a first illustration of the theme, probably in the 1680s. This painting has recently reappeared on the art market. More on this painting
Louis de Boullogne II (19 November 1654 – 2 November 1733), known as Boullogne fils, was a French painter.
Boullogne was born and died in Paris, and was the brother of Bon Boullogne. Their father, Louis Boullogne, feared rivalry between the two brothers if Louis the younger became a painter and so at first opposed his wish to do so. However, his vocation finally won through and every evening Louis crossed Paris to go with Bon to draw at the Académie. Aged 18 he won the grand prix de peinture and left for Rome in 1676, when his brother returned from there. He made copies after The School of Athens, Disputation of the Holy Sacrament and many other works by Raphael, from which the Gobelins made many different tapestries for the French king.
Louis Boullogne the Younger, 1654-1733, French
Augustus Orders the Closing of the Doors of the Temple of Janus, ca. 1681
Oil on canvas
72.4 x 58.4 cm (28 1/2 x 23 inches)
I have no further description, at this time
At first the triumvirs were content to work together to massacre their mutual enemies and threats, but rivalry and hunger for power eventually led the triumvirs into conflict. Lepidus, always the weakest link of the three, was forced out of the partnership at about 36 BCE. Around 32 BCE, Octavian declared war on Queen Cleopatra of Egypt (Mark Antony’s lover and ally). Antony and Cleopatra stood no chance against Octavian’s brilliant admiral, Marcus Agrippa, who had the ill-fated couple defeated and cornered by 30 BCE. Knowing they could not win or escape, Antony and Cleopatra took their own lives, leaving Octavian as the sole authoritarian ruler of the Roman empire. These historical details serve as an epilogue to Louis Boullogne the Younger’s painting.
In the Aeneid (8:370-385) Virgil tells how Venus asked Vulcan to make a set of armour for Aeneas, her son, when he was about to go to war in Latium. The outcome of Aeneas' victory was the founding of a Trojan settlement on the Tiber from which, according to the legend, the Romans descended.
Melpomene is the daughter of Zeus and Mnemosyne. Her sisters include Calliope (muse of epic poetry), Clio (muse of history), Euterpe (muse of lyrical poetry), Terpsichore (muse of dancing), Erato (muse of erotic poetry), Thalia (muse of comedy), Polyhymnia (muse of hymns), and Urania (muse of astronomy).
In 1722, he was chosen to design the medals and mottos for the Académie des inscriptions, receiving a new 1,000 livres pension and the ordre de Saint-Michel. In 1723, he was made rector of the Académie; in 1724, first painter to the king, with letters patent of nobility for him and his descendants; and, in 1725, director of the Académie, offices he held until his death. His students included Michel de Cornical [fr], Louis Galloche and Jacques-François Courtin. A strong supporter of the Académie, Louis de Boullogne supported its students with his lessons and his protection. He was the sworn enemy of the pochades and bambochades, claiming that only those with great skill and a fully formed taste could be allowed to paint.
Louis Boullogne was buried at Saint-Eustache, parish of his birth. He left a vast fortune to four children he had had with Bacquet - two sons (the eldest was councilor to the parlement de Metz, then conseiller d'État and an intendant des finances et ordres du roi, and the younger receiver general of finances for Tours) and two daughters (of which one married Jean-Pierre Richarol, receiver general of finances, with whom she had the painter Jean-Claude Richard, and the other became a nun). Jacques François Courtin was his pupil. More on Louis de Boullogne
Back in Rome,the Janus Geminus temple, which was dedicated to the Roman deity, Janus—an enigmatic god of doors and doorways. The Romans were said to have kept the doors of the temple open whenever the state was at war. and as the Romans seemed to always be expanding and battling, the doors of the Janus Geminus remained open for the vast majority of Rome’s existence.
Nevertheless, there were an anomalous few times when the temple doors were shut, and Octavian was one such man who could achieve this rare feat. This event, which occurred after Octavian’s triumphal return to Rome following his defeat of Antony and Cleopatra, was described by the Roman historian Cassius Dio, who wrote, “the action which gave him more pleasure than all these honours was the formal closing by the Senate of the gates of the temple of Janus, which signified that the Roman people’s wars were at an end…”. It is this rare event that Louis Boullogne the Younger strove to re-create in paint. More on Augustus closing the doors to the temple of Janus
Returning through Lombardy and Venice in 1680, Louis returned to Paris and soon won a great reputation. In 1681 he was received as a member of the Académie : his reception piece showed Augustus closing the doors to the temple of Janus, after the battle of Actium (See above) . On 3 February 1688 he married Marguerite Bacquet.
Louis de Boullogne (1654–1733)
Juno asking Aeolus to release the winds, c. 1727
Oil on canvas
Height: 105 cm (41.3 in); Width: 137.2 cm (54 in)
National Museum in Warsaw
A performance based on the story described by Virgil in Aeneid (I, 93-108 (65-77)) of the arrival to Lazio of Aeneas and his companions, whom Juno wanted to stop, asking the king of Aeolus to release the winds from the dungeons and send them to the sea against the Trojan ships . In return for this favor, she promised him a marriage to Dejopea, the most beautiful of the 14 nymphs in her retinue. This episode is the subject of the painting.
Aeolian with a scepter in hand is sitting on a rock, and below there is a winged figure of one of the winds emerging from the cave. Juno, with a peacock by his side, gestures towards Dejopea with a gesture of recommendation, surrounded by other nymphs. More on this painting
Louis de Boullogne (1654–1733)
Triumph of Galatea
Oil on canvas
Height: 72 cm (28.3 in); Width: 103 cm (40.5 in)
Musée des Beaux-Arts de Strasbourg
Galatea; "she who is milk-white", was a sea-nymph, the fairest and most beloved of the 50 Nereids. In Ovid's Metamorphoses she appears as the beloved of Acis. When a jealous rival, the Sicilian Cyclops Polyphemus, killed him with a boulder, Galatea then turned his blood into the Sicilian River Acis, of which he became the spirit. According to Athenaeus, the story was first concocted by Philoxenus of Cythera as a political satire against the Sicilian tyrant Dionysius I of Syracuse, whose favourite concubine, Galatea, shared her name with the nymph. Others claim the story was invented to explain the presence of a shrine dedicated to Galatea on Mount Etna. More on Galatea
We see on the left the Cyclops Polyphemus who fell in love with Galatea represented triumphant on the seas, on a conch pulled by a dolphin and surrounded by naiads, putti and newts. The artist has chosen not to represent Acis, Polyphemus' unhappy rival. At the beginning of the XVI E century Raphaël had given the canonical version to the Villa Farnésine. More on this painting
François Boucher (1703–1770)
The Rape of Europa, c.1732–c.1734
Oil on canvas
H 230.8 x W 273.5 cm
The Wallace Collection
Ovid’s 'Metamorphoses' (II, 835–875) tells of the abduction of Europa by Jupiter, disguised as a bull. Charmed by the bull’s good nature, Europa climbed on his back, whereupon he bore her off into the waves, only stopping on Crete to ravish her. Boucher typically concentrates on the gallant aspects of the scene, eschewing any reference to the story’s violent dénouement. The picture, with its profusion of flowers, represented Smell in a series of five monumental canvases symbolizing the Senses. Painted without fee for the lawyer Derbais, the canvases greatly impressed contemporaries, establishing the young artist’s reputation as one of the leading decorative painters of eighteenth-century Paris. More on this painting
Boullogne, Louis II de, dit Le Jeune dit also, Le Jeune (Paris, 1654 - Paris, 1733)
The Abduction of Europa (or Jupiter transformed into a bull)
Oil on canvas
Height: 1.78 m; Width: 1.63 m
Louvre Museum
In Greek mythology Europa was the mother of King Minos of Crete, a woman with Phoenician origin of high lineage, and for whom the continent Europe was named. The story of her abduction by Zeus in the form of a white bull was a Cretan story; as classicist Károly Kerényi points out, "most of the love-stories concerning Zeus originated from more ancient tales describing his marriages with goddesses. This can especially be said of the story of Europa".
The mythographers tell that Zeus was enamored of Europa and decided to seduce or ravish her. He transformed himself into a tame white bull and mixed in with her father's herds. While Europa and her helpers were gathering flowers, she saw the bull, caressed his flanks, and eventually got onto his back. Zeus took that opportunity and ran to the sea and swam, with her on his back, to the island of Crete. He then revealed his true identity, and Europa became the first queen of Crete. More on Europa
Boullogne, Louis II de, dit Le Jeune dit also, Le Jeune (Paris, 1654 - Paris, 1733)
Apollo and Daphne, c. 1677
Oil on canvas
Height: 1.58 m; Width: 1.2m
Louvre Museum
Apollo and Daphne is a story from ancient Greek mythology, retold by Hellenistic and Roman authors in the form of an amorous vignette.
Apollo, the Greek god of music, poetry, art, the sun, and a great warrior, mocked the god of love, Eros, for his use of bow and arrow, as Apollo is also patron of archery.
The insulted Eros then prepared two arrows: one of gold and one of lead. He shot Apollo with the gold arrow, instilling in the god a passionate love for the river nymph Daphne. He shot Daphne with the lead arrow, instilling in her a hatred for Apollo. More on Apollo and Daphne
François Boucher (1703–1770)
Venus and Vulcan, c. 1754
Oil on canvas
H 164.5 x W 71.5 cm
The Wallace Collection
The first painting in a set of three pictures depicts Venus with her husband Vulcan, the god of fire and smith and armourer of the gods. The scene is set in a forge, with Cupid sharpening his arrows on Vulcan’s anvil, while the god is distracted by his wife. Venus seduced her husband, with whom she was not always on the best of terms, in order to persuade him to forge arms for her mortal son Aeneas. All three pictures were probably enlarged in the nineteenth century to match the size of a fourth picture, and then mounted on a screen which appeared in the Prousteau de Montlouis sale in 1851. The set was held in high regard at the time of its purchase by the 4th Marquess of Hertford, when the critic Thoré-Bürger believed them to be the most beautiful Bouchers in the world. More on this painting
François Boucher (1703–1770)
Cupid a Captive, probably c.1754
Oil on canvas
H 164.5 x W 84.5 cm
The Wallace Collection
Anacreon’s Ode XXX, 'Love Captive', relates how, when captured and bound with flowers by the Muses, Cupid, ‘becoming accustomed to his sweet captivity, preferred servitude to the charms of freedom’, so that even Venus herself was unable to tempt him away from his charming captors. Although undated, Cupid a Captive was probably painted at about the same time as the other three vertical mythological panels by Boucher in The Wallace Collection, c.1754. Together with the three panels, 'Cupid a Captive' was incorporated into a screen and sold at the Prousteau de Montlouis sale in 1851. Its subject, however, does not conform to the Venus imagery of the other three pictures. The handling and composition are different and recent cleaning of the other works has revealed that 'Cupid a Captive' was originally conceived on a slightly larger scale than the other three pictures. More on this painting
François Boucher (1703–1770)
Mars and Venus Surprised by Vulcan, c.1754
Oil on canvas
H 164 x W 71 cm
The Wallace Collection
The second picture in the set with P429 and P444 depicts the story of Vulcan who, hearing of his wife’s infidelity with Mars, fashioned a golden net to entrap the faithless pair. Catching them together, he invited the other gods to enjoy their humiliation, but attracted new lovers for his wife, Neptune and Mercury, whose passions were aroused by the sight of her naked body. The three Boucher panels, with their amorous subjects and exquisite touch, would seem to have been obvious purchases for the 4th Marquess of Hertford. He may have been attracted, too, by their inventive sale catalogue entry, which described them as boudoir decorations, possibly once belonging to Madame de Pompadour.
François Boucher (1703–1770)
The Judgment of Paris, c. 1754
Oil on canvas
H 164 x W 76.6 cm
The Wallace Collection
Peleus and Thetis, who threw a golden apple among the guests, inscribed ‘to the fairest’. Venus, Juno, and Minerva all claimed the prize. Jupiter decreed that the shepherd Paris, son of King Priam of Troy, should settle the dispute. When Venus promised Paris the love of the most beautiful woman on earth, he decided in her favour. Unlike other representations of the myth, Boucher’s typically ignores the moral implications of the tale in order to concentrate on portraying three beautiful naked women from different angles. All three pictures are fine examples of Boucher’s mythological canvases of the 1750s, as usual focussing on the female nude. More on this painting
Boullogne, Louis II de, dit Le Jeune dit also, Le Jeune (Paris, 1654 - Paris, 1733)
Venus asking Vulcan for arms for Aeneas
Oil on canvas
Height: 1 m; Width: 0.6 m
Louvre Museum
In Greco-Roman mythology, Aeneas was a Trojan hero, the son of the prince Anchises and the goddess Aphrodite (Venus). His father was a first cousin of King Priam of Troy, making Aeneas a second cousin to Priam's children (such as Hector and Paris). He is a character in Greek mythology and is mentioned in Homer's Iliad. Aeneas receives full treatment in Roman mythology, most extensively in Virgil's Aeneid, where he is an ancestor of Romulus and Remus. He became the first true hero of Rome.
He played a prominent part in defending his city against the Greeks during the Trojan War, being second only to Hector in ability. Homer implies that Aeneas did not like his subordinate position, and from that suggestion arose a later tradition that Aeneas helped to betray Troy to the Greeks. The more common version, however, made Aeneas the leader of the Trojan survivors after Troy was taken by the Greeks. More on Aeneas
Boullogne, Louis II de, dit Le Jeune dit also, Le Jeune (Paris, 1654 - Paris, 1733)
Urania and Melpomene, c.1680
Oil on canvas
Height: 0.9 m; Width: 1.1 m
Louvre Museum
Boullogne, Louis II de, dit Le Jeune dit also, Le Jeune (Paris, 1654 - Paris, 1733)
Abigail Offering Bread to David, circa 1700
Oil on canvas
Height: 0.938 m; Width: 1 m;
Louvre Museum
Abigail was married to Nabal; she became married to the future King David after Nabal's death. Abigail was David's second wife. She became the mother of one of David's sons, Daniel.
Nabal had demonstrated ingratitude towards David, and Abigail attempts to placate David, in order to stop the future King from taking revenge. She gives him food, and speaks to him, urging him not to "have on his conscience the staggering burden of needless bloodshed."
After Abigail reveals to Nabal what she has done, "God struck Nabal and he died," after which David married her. Abigail is described as intelligent and beautiful. More on Abigail
Boullogne, Louis II de, dit Le Jeune dit also, Le Jeune (Paris, 1654 - Paris, 1733)
Rest on the Flight into Egypt, c. 1715
Oil on canvas
Height: 4.25 m; Width: 4.31 m
Louvre Museum
Boullogne, Louis II de, dit Le Jeune dit also, Le Jeune (Paris, 1654 - Paris, 1733)
Presentation at the temple, c. 1715
Oil on canvas
Height: 4.3 m; Width: 4.54 m
Louvre Museum
The Presentation of Jesus at the Temple, according to the gospel, Mary and Joseph took the Infant Jesus to the Temple in Jerusalem forty days after his birth to complete Mary's ritual purification after childbirth, and to perform the redemption of the firstborn son. Luke explicitly says that Joseph and Mary take the option provided for poor people (those who could not afford a lamb), sacrificing "a pair of turtledoves, or two young pigeons." Leviticus indicates that this event should take place forty days after birth for a male child, hence the Presentation is celebrated forty days after Christmas. More on The Presentation of Jesus
Boullogne, Louis II de, dit Le Jeune dit also, Le Jeune (Paris, 1654 - Paris, 1733)
The mystical marriage of Saint Catherine
Oil on canvas
Height: 0.41 m; Width: 0.3 m
Louvre Museum
The Mystic Marriage of Saint Catherine covers two different subjects in Christian art arising from visions received by either Saint Catherine of Alexandria or Saint Catherine of Siena (1347–1380), in which these virgin saints went through a mystical marriage wedding ceremony with Christ, in the presence of the Virgin Mary, consecrating themselves and their virginity to him.
The Catholic Encyclopaedia notes that such a wedding ceremony "is but the accompaniment and symbol of a purely spiritual grace", and that "as a wife should share in the life of her husband, and as Christ suffered for the redemption of mankind, the mystical spouse enters into a more intimate participation in His sufferings." Catherine of Alexandria was martyred, while Catherine of Siena received the stigmata.
Both Saint Catherines are frequent subjects in Christian art; the scene usually includes one of the Saint Catherines and either the infant Jesus held by his mother or an adult Jesus. Very rarely both saints are shown in a double ceremony (as above). Saint Catherine of Alexandria is invariably dressed as a princess in rich clothes, often with a crown, and normally with loose long blonde hair and carrying a martyr's palm, sometimes with her attribute of a wheel; Saint Catherine of Siena is shown as a Dominican nun in white with a black over-robe open at the front, so it is usually easy to tell which saint is depicted. More Saint Catherine
Boullogne, Louis II de, dit Le Jeune dit also, Le Jeune (Paris, 1654 - Paris, 1733)
The Centurion with Christ, c. 1686
Oil on canvas
Height: 4.5 m; Width: 3.58 m
Louvre Museum
When Jesus entered Capernaum, some Jewish elders came to him and told him of a centurion’s servant who was ill. The centurion sent these elders to ask Jesus to come to his home and heal his servant. While Jesus was on his way to the home, more men came up to him. These men were sent by the centurion again with a message. They told Jesus to no longer bothering coming. The centurion said he is not worthy to have Jesus in his home. He still believed that if Jesus says the word his servant would be healed. Jesus proclaimed he had not found faith like the centurions in all of Israel. When the friends returned, they found the servant was healed. More on The Centurion with Christ
Louis de Boullogne (1654–1733)
Le Christ et l'Hémorroïsse, circa 1695
Oil on canvas
Height: 37.5 cm (14.7 in); Width: 22.8 cm (8.9 in)
Musée Carnavalet
Gospel according to Mark , chapter 5, verses 25-34
“Now, a woman suffering from a flow of blood for twelve years, who had suffered greatly from many doctors and had spent all her assets without any profit, but was rather from bad to worse, had heard of Jesus. Coming from behind in the crowd, she touched her coat. Because she said to herself: “If I at least touch her clothes, I will be saved.” And immediately the source from which she was losing blood was dried up, and she felt in her body that she was healed of her infirmity. And immediately Jesus was aware of the force that had gone out of him, and having turned around in the crowd, he said, “Who has touched my clothes?” His disciples said to him: “You see the crowd pressing you on all sides, and you say: Who touched me? " And he was looking around to see who did it. Then the woman, fearful and trembling, knowing well what had happened to her, came and threw herself at his feet and told him the whole truth. And he said to her: "Daughter, your faith has saved you; go in peace and be healed of your infirmity." More on Le Christ et l'Hémorroïsse
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