CHAMPAIGNE Jean - Baptiste Brussels 1631... - Lot 292 - Hôtel des ventes d'Évreux

CHAMPAIGNE Jean - Baptiste Brussels 1631 - Paris 1681 Augustus receiving an Indian embassy (circa 1672) Oil on canvas (Rentoilage. Small lacks on the periphery, and on the top left; small restoration above the tiger's head and ear. Old varnish dirty)) Pen inscriptions in the upper left hand corner related to the subject. H. 30.7 - W. 60.2 cm Modello for the composition decorating the western vault of the Salon of Mercury in the Palace of Versailles. Collection of Louis XIV (Cf. Claire Constans. National Museum of the Palace of Versailles. Les peintures, volume 1, p. 148 n° 834 (inv.1850 2230) - RMN 1993). The figure of Augustus appears in the vault motifs alongside those of Alexander, twice (Alexander and Aristotle; Alexander and Calanus) and Ptolemy (Ptolemy Philadelphus in his library) (Cf. Bernard Dorival, Jean - Baptiste de Champaigne. La vie, l'homme et l'art; text pp. 45 & 46; illustrations n°75, 71 & 76, 73 - Paris 1992). These four decorations articulated around the figure of a famous man of antiquity are presented, as Bernard Dorival wrote, as "a panegyric to the glory of the King - sun" for his various achievements, notably the creation of the Royal Library (Ptolemy) and that of the Menagerie (circa 1662 - 1663) represented here by the Indian tiger. EXPERT: Mr. Partice DUBOIS