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Joseph-Marie VIEN (Montpellier 1716-1809 Paris)
Modello for …
See original version (French)
15
-
Joseph-Marie VIEN (Montpellier 1716-1809 Paris)
Modello for …
See original version (French)
Estimate €4,000 - €6,000
Voluntary lot
Description
Joseph-Marie VIEN (Montpellier 1716-1809 Paris)
Modello for "Helen pursued by Aeneas during the taking of Troy" ;
Oil on canvas
23.4 x 30.2 cm.
Lower left, signed and dated: 1792
Provenance:
- Most likely the sketch mentioned in the artist's personal collection and offered at his after-death sale in 1809, no. 71.
Bibliography:
- Thomas Gaehtgens, Joseph-Marie Vien 1716 - 1809, Arthena, 1988, most probably n°274
Related work:
Hélène poursuivie par Énée pendant la prise de Troie, 1792, Clermont-Ferrand, Musée Roger Quilliot, inv. unknown.
This modello for Hélène poursuivie par Énée pendant la prise de Troie (1792) bears witness to a pivotal moment in Joseph-Marie Vien's career. Commissioned by Louis XVI in 1789, it illustrates the artist's paradoxical situation at the time of the Revolution. A former director of the Académie de France in Rome and First Painter to the King, Vien nevertheless had to come to terms with the new revolutionary government, while his son and pupil Jacques-Louis David actively supported the Revolution.
Exhibited at the Salon of 1793, the painting was finally acquired by the Convention, which enabled Vien to retain a degree of recognition despite his links with the Ancien Régime.
The subject is taken from Canto II of the Aeneid. After the fall of Troy, Aeneas, convinced that Helen was responsible for his misfortunes, prepares to kill her in the temple of Vesta. At the decisive moment, Venus appears with Cupid and stops him, telling him that the real culprits are the gods. Vien depicts this very moment: Aeneas suspends his action under the effect of the divine apparition, while Helen implores Vesta's protection. The scene takes place in a neoclassical setting animated by frantic priests, with the city of Troy in flames in the background.
As is often the case with Vien, the work is the result of a long preparatory period of painted sketches. Our painting is the modello of the version kept in the Roger-Quilliot museum in Clermont-Ferrand, which was then used as a model for a tapestry made between 1803 and 1806 by the weaver Pilon. Enlarged in 1808 to be placed in the Emperor's Grand Cabinet at the Tuileries, this tapestry bears witness to the posterity of Vien's work at the beginning of the XIXᵉ century.
See original version (French)
Auto-translation. Refer to original language for legal validity.
Pictures credits: Contact the Auction House
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