Venus Rising from the Waves

Artist François Boucher and studio French, 1703–1770

Datecirca 1766

MediumOil on canvas

Dimensions56 x 45 in. (142.2 x 114.3 cm)
Frame: 64 3/4 x 54 1/4 in. (164.5 x 137.8 cm)

ClassificationsPaintings

Credit LineGift of Mr. and Mrs. Sosthenes Behn

Object numberG.55.8.2

On View

On view

ProvenanceCreated, Paris, ca.1766 for use at the Gobelins Manufactory, Paris [1]. [probably Wildenstein, Paris and New York] [2]; Edward J. Berwind (1848–1936), New York, Philadelphia, and Newport, RI [3]; to his niece Margaret Behn (née Dunlap) (1891–1977), and her husband Lietenant Colonel Sosthenes Behn (1884–1957) [4] New York, by 1940 [5]; given to NCMA, 1955.

[1] According to Maurice Fenaille, Etat générale des tapisseries de la Manufacture des Gobelines depuis son origine jusqu'a jours, 1600–1900, vol. IV (Paris: Hachette, 1907), p. 232, 239, and 287, a painting by Boucher of Jupiter transformé en Diane pour surprendre Callisto (the subject of NCMA G.55.8.1) disappeared from the Gobelins in 1870 during the Paris Commune, together with a painting of Vénus sortant des eaux. Though the dimensions of the Jupiter and Callisto painting (148 × 122 cm) are not an exact match to NCMA G.55.8.1, they are very close. No definitive identification of the NCMA paintings with those taken from the Gobelins has been made.

[2] Berwind probably acquired the paintings through Wildenstein, as Berwind purchased several other paintings from that firm, including LACMA’s Jean-Baptiste Pater, The Fortune Teller (82.8).

[3] Edward Berwind was head of Berwind-White Coal, Col, Philadelphia. According to an article in the NYTimes 27 August 1937, Julia Berwind (d. May 18, 1961), New York and Newport, was her brother’s chief heir. Their niece Margaret Dunlap and a nephew were also named in the will.

[4] Margaret married Sosthenes Behn in 1921. He was co-founder and president and chairman of ITT Corp. He died June 6, 1957, aged seventy-five.

[5] Margaret, as Mrs. Sosthenes Behn, lent both this painting and the pendant, NCMA G. 55.8.1, to “Masterpieces of European & American Paintings, 1500-1900,” New York World’s Fair, in 1940. See Walter Pach, Catalogue of European & American Paintings 1500-1900, Masterpieces of Art, New York World Fair (May–October 1940), p.133, cat. nos. 191, as Diana after the Bath, 56 x 45 inches; and 194, as Venus Rising, 56 x 47 inches.

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