Louis de Boullogne II - Venus in the Forge of Vulcan
Louis de Boullogne II - Venus in the Forge of Vulcan
Coming from a family of artists and being the son of one of the founding members of the Royal Academy, Louis de Boullogne the Younger had an exemplary academic career. At the age of nineteen, he won the Prix de Rome and left for Italy in 1675. He returned to Paris four years later and soon started working for the Louis XIV at Versailles, no doubt recommended by his brother who was also a painter at the court. He was appointed Rector of the Académie Royale in 1717 and became Director in 1722, the same year he was admitted into the Order of St. Michael. In 1724, he was knighted by Louis XV and became Premier Peintre du Roi.
Around 1715, having achieved considerable wealth and fame, it was thought that Boullogne had ceased painting almost completely. However, Venus at the Forge of Vulcan, which is dated 1723, challenged that assumption when it was re-discovered at the time of the 2003 sale (see Provenance).
The composition was originally part of a series of four paintings depicting the Elements, known from engravings by Louis Desplaces and Charles Dupuis, made between 1717 (for Venus in the Forge of Vulcan) and 1721.1 The whereabouts of Boullogne’s paintings, on which the prints were based, is today unknown. Two of them may have been exhibited in the Salon of 1699 (The Earth with Earthly Deities and Juno Commanding Aeolus to Let the Wind Disperse the Fleet of Aeneas). It seems that Boullogne carefully developed the works as numerous preparatory drawings exist, some with variations, and some in the opposite sense of the paintings and engravings.2 Due to the considerable success and popularity of the engravings, it seems Boullogne decided to re-visit his earlier project and to paint the present second version of Venus in the Forge of Vulcan a number of years later. The subject had already inspired him earlier in his career in a painting for the Menagerie at Versailles (before 1705, oval, 83 by 81 cm., now lost), and for a painting exhibited at the Salon of 1704 (possibly the picture sold Paris, Hôtel Drouot, 8 May 1985, dated 1703).
www.sothebys.com/en/auctions/ecatalogue/2014/the-courts-o...
Louis de Boullogne II - Venus in the Forge of Vulcan
Louis de Boullogne II - Venus in the Forge of Vulcan
Coming from a family of artists and being the son of one of the founding members of the Royal Academy, Louis de Boullogne the Younger had an exemplary academic career. At the age of nineteen, he won the Prix de Rome and left for Italy in 1675. He returned to Paris four years later and soon started working for the Louis XIV at Versailles, no doubt recommended by his brother who was also a painter at the court. He was appointed Rector of the Académie Royale in 1717 and became Director in 1722, the same year he was admitted into the Order of St. Michael. In 1724, he was knighted by Louis XV and became Premier Peintre du Roi.
Around 1715, having achieved considerable wealth and fame, it was thought that Boullogne had ceased painting almost completely. However, Venus at the Forge of Vulcan, which is dated 1723, challenged that assumption when it was re-discovered at the time of the 2003 sale (see Provenance).
The composition was originally part of a series of four paintings depicting the Elements, known from engravings by Louis Desplaces and Charles Dupuis, made between 1717 (for Venus in the Forge of Vulcan) and 1721.1 The whereabouts of Boullogne’s paintings, on which the prints were based, is today unknown. Two of them may have been exhibited in the Salon of 1699 (The Earth with Earthly Deities and Juno Commanding Aeolus to Let the Wind Disperse the Fleet of Aeneas). It seems that Boullogne carefully developed the works as numerous preparatory drawings exist, some with variations, and some in the opposite sense of the paintings and engravings.2 Due to the considerable success and popularity of the engravings, it seems Boullogne decided to re-visit his earlier project and to paint the present second version of Venus in the Forge of Vulcan a number of years later. The subject had already inspired him earlier in his career in a painting for the Menagerie at Versailles (before 1705, oval, 83 by 81 cm., now lost), and for a painting exhibited at the Salon of 1704 (possibly the picture sold Paris, Hôtel Drouot, 8 May 1985, dated 1703).
www.sothebys.com/en/auctions/ecatalogue/2014/the-courts-o...