Lot 79: Hugues Taraval (Paris 1729-1785) A bacchante, study for a ceiling in the Louvre

A bacchante, study for a ceiling in the Louvre
oil on canvas
56.7 x 42.9cm (22 5/16 x 16 7/8in).

PROVENANCE:
Sale, Hotel Drouot, Paris, 10 December, 1999, lot 115 (as Jacques Philippe Caresme)
Sale, Dorotheum, Vienna, 22 March, 2001, lot 314 (as Jacques Philippe Caresme)
Private collection USA

LITERATURE:
G. Bresc-Bautier, La galerie d'Apollon au palais du Louvre, Musée du Louvre (Paris, 2004), p. 131, ill., p. 166

The decoration of the Galerie d'Apollon in the Louvre was begun in 1663 when Charles Le Brun was charged, at the request of Louis XIV, to oversee the works. The theme for the paintings was to be 'worship of the sun', so not unexpectedly it became known as the Galerie d'Apollon, taking its name from the Roman sun god, with whom the Sun King identified himself. When, a century later, the Academy of Painting occupied this gallery, a group of artists – comprising Taraval, Durameau, J.J. Lagrenée, Callet and Renou - was commissioned to add to Le Brun's decorative scheme. Taraval painted L'Automne ou Le Triomphe de Bacchus et d'Ariane, and in 1780, Callet painted its pendant, Le Printemps.

Taraval's subject matter owes much to the tradition of Boucher, but with a more restrained, neo-classical treatment of the bacchanalian scene that reflects the prevailing taste of late 18th Century France. The present figure is a study for a bacchante who dances behind Bacchus and Ariadne's chariot in the Louvre ceiling. It demonstrates how successfully Taraval used the medium of oil on paper, a technique he clearly felt comfortable with as he frequently made oil sketches for larger works. Typically these studies are full of movement, and the well-observed, billowing drapery and broad highlights on the face in the present work are characteristic of his style.