Lot 54: Louis Laguerre (Paris 1663-1721 London)

Louis Laguerre (Paris 1663-1721 London) Cupid and Psyche before Jupiter - a bozzetto for a ceiling oil on canvas 36 x 48 1/8 in. (91.4 x 122.3 cm.)

91.4 x 122.3 cm.

with Hazlitt Gallery, London.

It is unknown to which ceiling the present bozzetto relates, but the story of Cupid and Psyche was a subject Laguerre painted on several occasions. In 1702/3 a contract was drawn up between the Duke of Leeds and Laguerre to paint four panels in the great hall, and the walls and ceiling of the staircase at Kiveton Hall, Yorkshire (demolished in 1811). Laguerre painted scenes from the story of Cupid and Psyche for the walls of the staircase and he depicted the marriage of Cupid and Psyche on the ceiling. There is a sketch on paper for the ceiling in the collection of the Duke of Leeds, which is presumably one and the same as the sketch mentioned in the contract. The sketch however does not correspond with the bozzetto for the ceiling at the Victoria & Albert Museum, London, of Psyche being robed by the Gods for her marriage with Cupid.