Flora and Zephyr

Details

JEAN-FRANÇOIS DE TROY (PARIS 1679-1752 ROME)
Flora and Zephyr
oil on canvas
27 ¼ x 35 ¼ in. (69.3 x 89.5 cm.)

Provenance

Grimaldi collection, Cadiz; their sale, Amsterdam, 4 December 1912, as François Lemoyne, described as The Glorification of Venus.
Mr. and Mrs. Andrew A. Lynn, and by whom sold,
Anonymous sale; Sotheby Parke-Bernet, New York, 18 June 1974, lot 157, as Charles-Antoine Coypel, described as Diana adorned with a garland of flowers, where acquired by the seller at the following,
Anonymous sale; Sotheby's New York, 3 October 1996, lot 18, where acquired by the present owner.

Literature

C. Bailey, The loves of the gods: Mythological paintings from Watteau to David, exhibition catalogue, 1992, pp. 214-15, 217, fig. 5.

Conditions of sale

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Lot Essay

Jean-François de Troy was first trained by his father, François de Troy (1645-1730). After spending seven years in Italy, he returned to Paris and became a member of the Académie Royale. De Troy rose to prominence as one of the leading artists serving the Parisian elite, celebrated for his history paintings. This painting was previously attributed to François Lemoyne and Charles-Antoine Coypel before being correctly identified as a work by de Troy, when published by Colin Bailey in 1992, who dates the painting to the mid-1720s (loc. cit.). The nude nymph, seen from behind, recurs in the river god in Pan and Syrinx (Cleveland Museum of Art, inv. no. 1973.212) and in one of the nymphs in Diana and her nymphs bathing (J. Paul Getty Museum, inv. no. 84.PA.44).

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