Jupiter seducing Callisto

Details

Follower of François Boucher
Jupiter seducing Callisto
oil on canvas
63 5/8 x 50 ¾ in. (161.7 x 128.8 cm.)

Provenance

(Possibly) Mrs H. Oppenheim; her sale (†), Christie's, London, 26 May 1933, lot 149, as one of a pair, with incorrect dimensions, as 'Boucher' (13 gns. to Edwards).
Maurice Fenaille (1855-1937), Paris.
with Bernard Steinitz, Paris, 2008.

Literature

(Probably) M. Fenaille, F. Boucher, Paris, 1925, p. 110.
(Possibly) A. Ananoff, François Boucher, Lausanne-Paris, 1976, II, p. 293, under no. 668.
(Possibly) A. Ananoff, L'opera completa di François Boucher, Milan, 1980, p. 141, under no. 706.

Brought to you by

Nikki van Beukering

nvanbeukering@christies.com +44 (0)20 7389 2566

Lot Essay

The present work is a version of the original by Boucher in the Wallace Collection, London. The prime is dated to 1769 and was used as one of the models for a set of tapestries produced in the famous Goeblins workshops for Louis XVI, now held in the J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles. The subject is taken from Ovid's Metamorphoses, where Jupiter transforms himself into the goddess Diana to seduce one of her followers, Callisto, with the eagle in the upper left of the composition providing us with the clue as to his true identity.

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