MID-18TH CENTURY

This composition is related in subject matter and style to the oeuvre of French artists of the period, such as François Boucher (Paris 1703-1770) and his contemporaries. The Sleep of Venus was a particularly favoured artistic subject from the mid- and late-1730s. The Roman poet Lucretius, whose book De rerum natura invokes Venus as the goddess of creation and associates the awakening of Venus and Cupid with the coming of Spring, could have offered a validation from classical literature for this vision of antiquity. For a related composition see Christie's, London, 6 July 2006, lot 55.