LOUIS LEOPOLD BOILLY (1761-1845): THE TRIUMPH OF APHRODITE

oil on canvas, the brownish-gray color of the stone makes the image appear grisaille, showing an ancient Roman marble Trompe-l'œil in high relief with a mythological scene of The Triumph of Aphrodite, surrounded by sea tritons, nymphs and a hippocamp. The deep dark background gives the impression of night time lighting, an upper frieze with a mascaron and leaf festoons. On the left a volute, mounted with a ram's head, on the right is a pillar in Rosso Antico marble. unsigned. The painting presented in a ribbon and acanthus leaf gilt frame, An inscription on the reverse states that the painting appears on page 254 of Paul Marmottan's book ‘Le Peintre Louis Boilly, (1761-1845)’ but we have not been able to locate a copy.

Height: 26.5cm
Width: 41.5cm

In good Condition - no signs of restoration.

Louis-Léopold Boilly (French, 5 July 1761 – 4 January 1845) was a French painter and draftsman. A gifted creator of popular portrait paintings, he also produced a vast number of genre paintings vividly documenting French middle-class social life. His life and work spanned the eras of monarchical France, the French Revolution, the Napoleonic Empire, the Bourbon Restoration and the July Monarchy. His 1800 painting Un Trompe-l'œil introduced the term trompe-l'œil ("trick the eye"), applied to the technique that uses realistic imagery to create the optical illusion that the depicted objects exist in three dimensions, though the "unnamed" technique itself had existed in Greek and Roman times.

Comes with a certificate of export from the Spanish ministry of culture (provided on request).