"Venus et l'amour"

Painting by Jean Baptiste Poncet (1827-1901), signed and dated 1898

The painting is situated in an idyllic landscape.  Venus is perfectly posed in the middle of the picture.  Her nudity is softened by the presence of Amor (as an innocent young child) and of a butterfly (symbol for fragility).   Poncet shows here both Venus as the personifaction of idealistic beauty and the beauty of nature in perfect harmony.  This theme shows influence by "La source", painted in 1856 by Ingres.

 Oil on canvas, 192 cm high x 125 cm wide

Expositions :

Paris, Salon des artistes Français 1898, nr 1648

Palais des Beaux Arts de Lyon 1898, nr 53

Catalogue :

Museum of Vienna, 2001

Jean Baptiste Poncet was a student at the "Ecole des Beaux-Arts" in Lyon.  He also had lessons by Hippolyte Flandrin, and become later on his companion.   One can see the influece by his teacher throughout his career.