Anicet Charles Gabriel LEMONNIER (Attributed to) - Venus and Adonis

Anicet Charles Gabriel LEMONNIER (Attributed to)
Rouen, 1743 - Paris, 1824
Venus and Adonis
Oil on wood panel
24 x 20 cm (35 x 31 cm with frame)
Very fine period frame
Very good condition

This is a modified copy of an Italian painting, "Venus and Adonis" by Veronese. An interesting copy (in the sense of the painting), with variants, of a painting lost by Veronese but known through engraving. Here, the painter has chosen a different range of colors, a different position for the dogs and Cupid, and a much greater emphasis on landscape. The variations from Veronese's original painting show that the painter sought to draw inspiration from Veronese, while adding his own style.
Our painting, which we attribute to Lemonnier, displays many of the characteristics of this artist's art.
A little-known painter who won the Prix de Rome in 1772, Lemonnier was elected a member of the Académie de peinture in 1789 and was housed in the Louvre from 1792. He was strongly influenced by Italian painting as early as the 1770s, when he became a pupil of Vien. He then spent a long time in Italy between 1774 and 1784.
There's a very Roman feel to his style, in the very classical, very serious canon of his figures, and in the very detailed workmanship of his folds (very tight folds in a manner characteristic of Lemonnier; see in particular the "Albanian Greek" in the Musée des Beaux-Arts, Rouen, painted in the 1770s). At the same time, there's a very French feel to his choice of pastel colors and the highly theatrical expressions of his figures. We can compare our painting with, for example, the Musée de Rouen's "Les Enfants de Niobé tués par Apollon et Diane" (Niobe's Children killed by Apollo and Diana), dated 1772, where we find all these characteristics and which would lead us to date it quite early, in the 1770s.

Ref: ZSK3S3VLWB