Shop art print and framed art L'Aurore et Céphale by Pierre-Narcisse Guérin

"Aurora and Cephalus" is a painting by the French artist Pierre Narcisse Guérin, known in two versions, which are kept in the Louvre and the Pushkin Museum, while a preliminary sketch is in the Hermitage. The painting is an illustration from Book 7 of Ovid's Metamorphoses, which tells the story of Cephalus in verses 661-866. The goddess of dawn Aurora (Eos in the Greek pantheon) fell in love with him and kidnapped him. Kefal returned the favour and Aurora gave him a son, Phaethon. The painting depicts the moment when Aurora abducts the sleeping Cephalus and carries him on a cloud to his home. Two versions of the painting are known. The first version, measuring 254 × 186 cm, was executed by Guérin in 1810 for Count D.B. Sommariv and exhibited at the Salon of 1814. The painting subsequently entered the collection of Catherine Seillier, the heiress of the Count of Sommariv, and was presented to her in 1888 at the Louvre, where it remains to this day, in room 702. The second version was executed by Guérin in 1811, when Prince Nikolai Yusupov commissioned two paintings for his palace in Arkhangelskoye, near Moscow. The dimensions of the work are 251 × 178 cm, inventory number Zh-808. The first painting "Morpheus and Irida" was painted by Guerin as an original work, while the painting "Dawn and Kefal" was repeated by the artist in agreement with Yusupov. Prior to this, the artist showed the client an oil sketch on a board measuring 36.2 × 26.3, which remained in private [...]

 

This artwork is a painting from the classical period. It belongs to the neoclassicism style.

 

« L'Aurore et Céphale » is kept at Louvre, Paris, France.

 

Find the full description of L'Aurore et Céphale by Pierre-Narcisse Guérin on Wikipedia.