The Dream of Happiness is an allegorical oil on canvas painting by Constance Mayer and Pierre-Paul Prud'hon, now in the Louvre. [1] It was first exhibited as number 809 at the 1819 Paris Salon and has remained in the French national collection ever since. [2]
It shows a couple and their child in a boat rowed by Fortuna and steered by Cupid. Few of Mayer's sketches survived, but many of Prud'hon's have. [3]
L'Amour et Psyché, enfants is an oil painting by William Adolphe Bouguereau in 1890. It is currently in a private collection. It was displayed in the Salon of Paris in 1890, the year Bouguereau was President of the Société des Artistes Français. The painting features Greek mythological figures Eros and Psyché, sharing an embrace and kiss. Bouguereau was a classical-style painter in the Neoclassical era of art. The painting is characterized by the frothy background the figures delicately stand on. It depicts the beginning of the forbidden romance of Cupid and Psyche, a popular subject at the time of execution.
Cupid and Psyche is a story originally from Metamorphoses, written in the 2nd century AD by Lucius Apuleius Madaurensis. The tale concerns the overcoming of obstacles to the love between Psyche and Cupid or Amor, and their ultimate union in a sacred marriage. Although the only extended narrative from antiquity is that of Apuleius from the 2nd century AD, Eros and Psyche appear in Greek art as early as the 4th century BC. The story's Neoplatonic elements and allusions to mystery religions accommodate multiple interpretations, and it has been analyzed as an allegory and in light of folktale, Märchen or fairy tale, and myth.
Pierre-Paul Prud'hon was a French Romantic painter and draughtsman best known for his allegorical paintings and portraits such as Madame Georges Anthony and Her Two Sons (1796). He painted a portrait of each of Napoleon's two wives.
Théodore Chassériau was a Dominican-born French Romantic painter noted for his portraits, historical and religious paintings, allegorical murals, and Orientalist images inspired by his travels to Algeria. Early in his career he painted in a Neoclassical style close to that of his teacher Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres, but in his later works he was strongly influenced by the Romantic style of Eugène Delacroix. He was a prolific draftsman, and made a suite of prints to illustrate Shakespeare's Othello. The portrait he painted at the age of 15 of Prosper Marilhat makes Chassériau the youngest painter exhibited at the Louvre museum.
Antoine-Denis Chaudet was a French sculptor who worked in the neoclassical style. He was born and died in Paris.
Johan Barthold Jongkind was a Dutch painter and printmaker. He painted marine landscapes in a free manner and is regarded as a forerunner of Impressionism.
François-Édouard Picot was a French painter during the July Monarchy, painting mythological, religious and historical subjects.
Pierre Petitot was a French sculptor.
Auguste Gaspard Louis, Baron Boucher-Desnoyers, was one of the most eminent of modern French engravers.
Ferdinand de Braekeleer, sometimes spelled as Ferdinand de Braeckeleer, was a Flemish painter and printmaker. He is known for his paintings of genre scenes, church interiors, historic events, religious scenes, cityscapes, market scenes and market still lifes. He is called 'the Elder' to distinguish him from his son with the same name, who was also a painter.
Marie-Françoise Constance Mayer La Martinière was a French painter of portraits, allegorical subjects, miniatures and genre works. She had "a brilliant but bitter career."
The Wounded Cuirassier is an oil painting of a single anonymous soldier descending a slope with his nervous horse by the French Romantic painter and lithographer Théodore Géricault (1791–1824). In this 1814 Salon entry, Géricault decided to turn away from scenes of heroism in favor of a subject that is on the losing side of the battle. On display in the aftermath of France's disastrous military campaign in Russia, this life-size painting captured the feeling of a nation in defeat. There are no visible wounds on the figure, and the title has sometimes been interpreted to refer to soldier's injured pride. The painting stood in stark contrast with Géricault's Charging Chasseur, as it didn't focus on glory or the spectacle of battle. Only his Signboard of a Hoofsmith, which is currently in a private collection, bears any resemblance in form or function to this painting.
Anna Barbara Bansi was a Swiss-born French painter. She is usually referred to as "Barbara" or "Babette".
Leda and the Swan is an oil on canvas painting from 1530–31 by the Italian painter Correggio, now in the Gemäldegalerie in Berlin. It shows three scenes of Leda's seduction by Jupiter who has taken the form of a swan. Their first meeting is shown on the right hand side and their lovemaking in the centre, where Leda sits with the swan between her thighs, guiding him with her left hand. They are accompanied to their left by Cupid with his bow and two cupids with flutes. The third scene is the swan flying away whilst Leda gets dressed. Leda and the Swan was a common subject in 16th-century art.
Artists in Isabey's Studio is a painting of 1798 by the French artist Louis-Léopold Boilly, showing many artists who were influential under the French Directory. It was displayed with 529 other works at the 1798 Paris Salon, which was mainly noted for Gérard's Psyche and Cupid. It is now in the Louvre, whose collections it entered in 1911.
Jean-Baptiste Mallet was a French painter in the Troubadour style.
Coresus Sacrificing Himself to Save Callirhoe is a large oil-on-canvas painting by the French Rococo artist Jean-Honoré Fragonard, created in 1765. The painting was exhibited at the Salon of 1765 and earned Fragonard entry into the Académie Royale.
Nicolas Eustache Maurin (1799–1850) was a French painter, lithographer and engraver. His lithographs, particularly those characteristic of their period, are highly sought after.
Bara is a painting by Jean-Jacques Henner exhibited at the Salon of 1882 and today part of the collection at the Petit Palais in Paris. It depicts a Republican boy-hero of the French Revolution, Joseph Bara, killed by the Vendeans in 1793.
Justice and Divine Vengeance Pursuing Crime is an 1804-1808 oil on canvas painting by Pierre-Paul Prud'hon, commissioned by Nicolas Frochot, préfet de la Seine for the criminal tribunal hall at the Palais de Justice, in Paris. It is now in the Louvre. A replica commissioned from the painter by the very rich Italian art lover Gian Battista Sommariva, a major collector of French works - it is lighter in touch and colouring than the Louvre work.