FRENCH SCHOOL circa 1760, surrounded by Michel... Lot 279

FRENCH SCHOOL circa 1760, surrounded by Michel François DANDRE BARDON Augustus paying posthumous homage to Alexander web 48 x 65 cm Ancient restorations Note: Suetonius, in his "Lives of the Twelve Caesars" (Augustus, chap. 18) reports that Augustus (-63 B.C.- 14 A.D.) "wanted the tomb of Alexander to be opened and had his body pulled out; he put a golden crown on his head, covered it with flowers and paid him a pious homage. And when they asked him if he did not want to see the Ptolemies also, he answered: I wanted to see a king and not the dead. He thus repeated the gesture of Alexander who went to the tomb of Achilles to pay homage to him and to join his lineage. Sébastien Bourdon also treated the subject around 1645 in a painting kept in the Louvre, introducing also Bucephalus, Alexander's horse in its composition... Expert: Cabinet Turquin