FRENCH SCHOOL. ecococco GIRODET. cooooooo PRIVATE, COLLECTION. 受 DANAE. A female figure standing upon a bed, strewedwith flowers, she is looking at herself in a mirror held by a Cupid, and endeavouring to adjust a long veil upon her head which conceals none of her charms. Such is the composition to which Girodet has given the name of Danae. It is not easy, at the first glance, to perceive in what particular this picture represents the daughter of Acrius, who was put into confinement by her father, and notwithstanding became the mother of Perseus, Jupiter having introduced himself to her transformed into a shower of gold.To the left however is a wall which indicates the tower in which Danae was imprisoned. The lance surrounded with poppies shews that the guards were asleep; the stars, that . the scene occurred during the night; the richness of the bed, that the gold was plentiful; the flowers design the pleasure experienced during the effervescence of youth; and Cupid, in approaching his torch, implies that he always contrives to inflame hearts, it spite of the precautions taken to prevent him. A great purity of design and one of the most graceful attitudes distinguish this picture; it was painted in 1797, to ornament one of the trumeaux of M. Gaudin's saloon; it has since removed by M. Rilliet to whom it still belongs. Danae has been lithographized by M. Aubry Lecomte. -Femme de Septie endue célèbre p baucher S devint imprente les hommages malheur des bardé entre cins dont la fisser rager La manity Galie en me ou bien d'une ausst bonne exécution. Cette télique, est du petit nombre de celles ge Placée autrefols dans la galerie de Versail tenant au Musee du Louvre. Haut., pieds 7 pouces. |