Lot Essay
The history of Cupid and Psyche taken from La Fontaine's adaptation of Lucius Apuleius, The Golden Ass, books 4-6, is a favourite subject in Natoire's oeuvre and the present, unpublished picture would appear to be Natoire's earliest treatment of the story. It precedes his well-known series of eight canvasses of the theme in the Salon Ovale of the Hôtel Soubise in Paris, executed in 1737-9.
The present picture is one of the earliest works of Natoire's maturity, painted in the same year that he was received into the Académie Royale de la Peinture et Sculpture and gained his first royal commission, to decorate the Chambre de la Reine at Versailles. The picture does not seem to be listed by F. Boyer in his catalogue of the artist's work in Archives de l'Art Français, nouv. pér., XXI, 1949; however, a preparatory compositional drawing was sold in these Rooms, 26 March 1968, lot 38 (see fig.a)
The present picture is one of the earliest works of Natoire's maturity, painted in the same year that he was received into the Académie Royale de la Peinture et Sculpture and gained his first royal commission, to decorate the Chambre de la Reine at Versailles. The picture does not seem to be listed by F. Boyer in his catalogue of the artist's work in Archives de l'Art Français, nouv. pér., XXI, 1949; however, a preparatory compositional drawing was sold in these Rooms, 26 March 1968, lot 38 (see fig.a)