Four overdoors with mythological scenes:
Perseus and Andromeda; Vulcan (?) discovering Venus and Mars; Bacchus and Ariadne; and Venus and Adonis
one with fragment of a signature: Bou…/17..
oil on canvas, shaped, two 63.5 x 128 cm (2) and two 61.5 x 128 cm (2), a set of four

Provenace: Private European collection

The four pictures constitute an example of curvilinear sovrapporte, which was most probably originally displayed as decoration over a door, often seen in the salons of Parisian hôtels. Those four paintings may have formed part of a series, ornamenting one room, paneled with painted and gilded boiseries. The paintings depict four mythological love scenes, typical of the rococo style. Venus and Adonis, Bacchus and Ariadne, Perseus and Andromeda and Vulcan discovering Venus and Mars, set in elaborately executed landscapes.

A fragment of a signature and date can be seen in Venus and Adonis, and on the basis of a photograph Alaistair Laing has kindly suggested a tentative attribution to the French artist, Bonnet Danval, who was active around 1750. He painted a curvilinear painting with the mythological subject of Diana and Endymion, which was exhibited at the Académie de Saint-Luc in 1752 (present whereabouts unknown).

Provenace: Private European collection

The four pictures is an example of curvilinear sovrapporte, which was most probably originally displayed as decoration over a door, often seen in the salons of Parisian hôtels. Those four paintings may have formed part of series, ornamenting one room, paneled with painted and gilded boiseries. The paintings depict four mythological love scenes, typical of the rococo style. Venus and Adonis, Bacchus and Ariadne, Perseus and Andromeda and Vulcan discovering Venus and Mars, set in elaborately executed landscapes.

A fragment of a signature and date can be seen in Venus and Adonis, and on the basis of a photograp Alaistair Laing has kindly suggested a tentative attribution to the French artist, Bonnet Danval, who was active around 1750. He painted a curvilinear painting with the mythological subject of Diana and Endymion, which was exhibited at the Académie de Saint-Luc in 1752 (present whereabouts unknown).