Charles Alphonse DUFRESNOY (Paris, 1611-Villiers-le-Bel,... Lot n° 246

Hercules choosing between virtue and voluptuousness Canvas (old restorations). 103 x 140,3 cm A student of Simon VOUET and François PERRIER, Charles Alphonse DUFRESNOY spent twenty years in Rome, between 1634 and 1653, where he became friends with Pierre MIGNARD and was influenced by Nicolas POUSSIN. Back in Paris in 1656, after having passed through Venice and Bologna, he worked with LEBRUN, PERRIER, MIGNARD on the great royal building sites of the Capital. Famous painter in his time, considered as a great theorist, then fallen into oblivion, or confused with the artists mentioned above, the corpus of his works has been reconstructed little by little over the last forty years, through publications and exhibition catalogs by Jacques THUILLIER, Gilles CHOMER, Pierre ROSENBERG and Sylvain LAVEISSIÈRE among others. The subject shows Hercules, dressed in the skin of the lion of Nemea, choosing between Virtue, represented under the features of Minerva, and Voluptuousness, symbolized by Venus, while Cupid tries to disarm him by tearing off his club. In the background is a landscape typical of the artist's work, made up of mountains, gardens and ancient palaces, and animated by dancing and feasting figures. On the left, in the distance, appears Pegasus, the winged horse, and from the sky emerge lightning ending in arrows.