Jean-François de Troy (1679-1752) and workshop - Danae and the shower of gold

Jean-François de Troy (1679-1752) and workshop - Danae and the shower of gold
Oil on canvas, 80 x 100 cm. This sumptuous painting depicts the mythological episode in which Danae, confined by her father Acrisius, king of Argos, in a bronze tower after an oracle predicted that he would be killed by his future grandson, Zeus, enamoured of her beauty, managed to reach her by transforming himself into a shower of gold. From this union Perseus was born. The painting, recently rediscovered, is attributed to Jean-François de Troy with the participation of his workshop, particularly in the representation of the angel (Amor). There is another version on the same subject by de Troy, which is the same size but differs in composition. In this version, Danae is lying on a bed receiving the shower of gold, with an old woman sitting nearby and elements such as an alcove, a censer and curtains enriching the scene. In contrast, this version does not include an alcove or a censer, but features the figure of an angel (Amor) ready to shoot an arrow, absent in the other painting. Both works feature a gilded wooden table decorated with a cloth, a box and a mirror. The artist from the de Troy workshop who painted the angel remains unknown, although he is probably the same artist who created another painting of Danae in the Louvre collection and which has been on display at the Musée des Beaux-Arts in Arras since 1951. Provenance: French private collection.

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