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Lot Essay
A study for Aegina in the picture of Aegina visited by Jupiter in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, E. Munhall, op. cit., no. 65. There are no 18th Century references to this large picture and it is first recorded in the 1825 Lapeyrière sale in Paris. But Edgar Munhall pointed out that Greuze mentioned to Diderot in 1767 that he was thinking of painting a nude woman: 'Je voudrais bien peindre une femme toute nue, sans blesser la pudeur' (D. Diderot, Salons, Oxford, 1957-67, III, p. 109).
The subject of this picture has often been confused with that of Danaë, who receives a shower of gold. Aegina is the daughter of Asopus and was visited by Jupiter in the guise of fire. Later Jupiter transformed himself into an eagle and carried her away.
Another drawing for Aegina was included in Caroline Greuze's sale as lot 30. Now in a French private collection, it was dated by Edgar Munhall to the late 1760s (E. Munhall, op. cit., no. 64).
The subject of this picture has often been confused with that of Danaë, who receives a shower of gold. Aegina is the daughter of Asopus and was visited by Jupiter in the guise of fire. Later Jupiter transformed himself into an eagle and carried her away.
Another drawing for Aegina was included in Caroline Greuze's sale as lot 30. Now in a French private collection, it was dated by Edgar Munhall to the late 1760s (E. Munhall, op. cit., no. 64).