André GIROUX (Attributed to) - Landscape with the Three Graces

André GIROUX (Attributed to)
Paris, 1801 - Paris, 1879
Landscape with the Three Graces
Oil on canvas
Signed lower right
56 x 70 cm (68 x 85 cm with frame)
Beautiful black wood frame with gilded edging
Inscribed "André Giroux" on the back

This painting comes from a private collection, that of Dr. Cugnier in Vesoul, and is given as a painting by André Giroux (Centre de documentation du musée du Louvre). André Griroux" is inscribed on the back, and a trace of a signature can be seen in the lower right-hand corner. Although less naturalistic than usual and more neoclassical, this could be an early painting by André Giroux from the 1820s. Indeed, this painting recalls certain landscapes by Achille Giroux, more classical and idealized in workmanship and subject, and painted early in his career, such as this "Rapture of Proserpine" dated 1821 (Christie's New York, February 2017), this "Philémon et Baucis" (Sotheby's February 1992) painted around 1820 and his "Hunting of Meleagre" (Grand prix de Rome for historical landscape in 1825, ENSBA).
Here, the subject is a landscape animated by Botticelli's Three Graces. Between them, Aglaia, Euphrosyne and Thalia symbolize splendor, joy and abundance. Here, they are depicted in an idyllic landscape, where their dance, illuminated by a lovely burst of light, is matched by an intoxicating waltz of light that travels from the waterfall to the river to the sea, revealing the beauty of nature, which seems to come to life from the depths and gloom of the divine Graces!
The workmanship is remarkably fine, particularly in the rendering of the diaphanous, almost bluish water and the foliage in its many shades of green. And the treatment of light creates all the richness of the composition, with its multiple plays of chiaroscuro.

Ref: XVF8K6IA4E