Venus Rescuing Paris from Menelaus

Artist François Boucher (French, 1703–1770)

Date1760–1765

Mediumoil on paper mounted on canvas

Dimensionscanvas: 46.2 x 57 cm (18 3/16 x 22 7/16 in.)

ClassificationsPaintings

Credit LineCharlotte E.W. Buffington Fund

Terms

Object number1974.221

Label TextFrançois Boucher enjoyed an artistic career of enviable serenity. From his student days to the end of his life he produced an unending stream of paintings which were the perfect complement to the pleasure-loving court of Louis XV: pastoral landscapes, attractive nudes, and portraits which are both aristocratic and charming. Never in want of wealthy patrons and purchasers, he was a favorite artist of Madame de Pompadour, the mistress of Louis XV and the chief patron of the arts in France. Venus Rescuing Paris from Menelaus is an unusual subject for Boucher, a scene from the Trojan War as recounted in the Iliad of Homer. Paris, a prince of Troy, had caused the war by carrying off Helen, the wife of King Menelaus. When Menelaus and Paris met in single combat, Paris was getting the worst of the fight until the goddess Venus rescued him, hiding him in a cloud and carrying him away to Helen's bedchamber. The painting is a sketch in oils, probably the design for a larger painting or tapestry which was never carried out, and it dates from the early 1760s, late in Boucher's life. It may be the only battle scene ever painted by the artist, and it is typical that Boucher, who had made his reputation as a painter of love rather than war, should have chosen a battle in which the goddess of love has the decisive role. ProvenanceH. Shickman Gallery, New York NY

On View

Not on view