Venus Healing Aeneas
Merry Joseph Blondel·c. 1820
Historical Context
Merry-Joseph Blondel was a French history painter who won the Prix de Rome in 1803 and became a prominent decorator of Parisian public buildings under the Restoration and July Monarchy. This scene of Venus healing Aeneas draws on Virgil's Aeneid (Book XII), where the goddess treats her son's battle wound. Blondel painted ceiling decorations in the Louvre and the Bourse, continuing the grand decorative tradition.
Technical Analysis
The oil on canvas demonstrates Blondel's academic Neoclassical style with idealized figures, clear compositional structure, and luminous flesh tones. The warm palette and graceful gestures show the influence of both David's rigor and Prud'hon's softer manner.
Provenance
Hippolyte Lebas (died 1867), Paris, by 1867; sold, Hôtel Drouot, Paris, December 2–4, 1867, lot 93, as Sujet mythologique, to private collection, France. Sold, small regional auction, France, artist listed as anonymous, to private collection, by 2010; sold, Artcurial auction at Hôtel Drouot, Paris, February 19, 2010, lot 199, as Venus protégeant le corps d’Hector de la corruption, to Caylus Anticuaios, Madrid; sold to Art Institute of Chicago, 2015.
