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)
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 viewProvenanceCreated, 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.
[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.
Published ReferencesWalter Pach, European and American Paintings: 1500-1900 (exhibition catalogue) (New York: New York World's Fair, 1940), cat. no. 194.
W. R. Valentiner, Catalogue of Paintings: Including Three Sets of Tapestries (Raleigh: North Carolina Museum of Art, 1956), no. 145, illus. (b-w).
Rubenism (exhibition catalogue) (Providence: Bell Gallery, Brown University, 1975), cat. no. 50, illus. (b-w).
"Report of the Director," North Carolina Museum of Art Bulletin 13, no. 3 (1976), conservation note 16.
Alexandre Ananoff, François Boucher, avec la collaboration de M. Daniel Wildenstein de l'Institut, Tomb II (Lausanne-Paris: La Bibliothèque des Arts, 1976), cat. no. 637, as Venus Sortant des Eaux.
François Boucher (Paris: Editions de la Réunion des Musèes Nationaux, 1986), 42, 319-20, 347.
Charissa Bremer-David, French Tapestries and Textiles in the J. Paul Getty Museum (Los Angeles: The J. Paul Getty Museum, 1997), 65-66, illus. 66.
Joseph P. Covington, entry for Venus Rising from the Waves, in North Carolina Museum of Art: Handbook of the Collections, Rebecca Martin Nagy, ed. (Raleigh: North Carolina Museum of Art, 1998), 169, 174, illus. (color) 174.
Preview: The Magazine of the North Carolina Museum of Art (January/February 2003), illus. (color) inside back cover.
Joseph P. Covington, entry for Venus Rising from the Waves, in North Carolina Museum of Art: Handbook of the Collections, rev. ed. (Raleigh: North Carolina Museum of Art, 2010), 356, illus. (color) 357.
Jean Vittet, Les Gobelins au siècle des Lumières: Un âge d’or de la manufacture royale (Paris: Swan Éditeur, 2014), mentioned 229.
Anika Reineke, Der Stoff der Räume: Textile Raumkonzepte im Französischen Interierur des 18. Jahrhunderts (Berlin: Edition Imorde, 2020), 102, illus. (color) 102, fig. 52
Exhibition HistoryNew York, NY, New York World's Fair, 1940, cat. no. 194.
Providence, RI, Bell Gallery, List Art Building, "Rubenism," January 30 February 23, 1975, cat. no. 50, illus. (b-w).
Raleigh, NC, North Carolina Museum of Art, "The People's Collection, Reimagined," October 7, 2022–present.
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