The Rape of Europa
Charles de La Fosse (1636 - 1716)
Category
Art / Oil paintings
Date
1687 - 1688 - 1691
Materials
Oil on canvas
Measurements
1600 x 1350 mm
Place of origin
Paris
Order this imageCollection
Basildon Park, Berkshire
NT 266411
Caption
La Fosse painted two mythological pictures for Montagu House, London for the musicophile Ralph, the 1st Duke of Montagu, possibly whilst the artist was in England between 1686-87 and certainly by 1707 when they are listed in the Montagu inventory. The subject of one of the pair, now recognised as Rinaldo and Armida, was long thought to be Mars and Venus but its source is Tasso’s Jerusalem Delivered (1581) and was the inspiration of an opera by Quinault and Lully which premiered in Paris in 1686. The subject of the other is the Rape of Europa. Although the subjects do not immediately relate, they are balanced by opposing triangular compositions and maidens with golden hair.
Summary
Oil painting on canvas, The Rape of Europa by Charles de la Fosse (1636-1716), circa 1687/88 -1691. In Greek mythology, Europa was the daughter of King Agenor of Tyre who was abducted by Zeus (Jupiter), in the guise of a white bull, and taken across the sea to Crete where, in human form, Zeus (Jupiter) then raped her as described in the Roman poet Ovid's Metamorphoses. In a wooded landscape, Europa is seen sitting on the back of the white bull which is lying on the ground. She wears a white dress and red cloak and points with her right arm towards the sea. The bull's back is draped with a blue cloak and its horns are garlanded with flowers. Europa is surrounded by female attendants, one of whom holds a harp, another has a dog. A woman dances on the right, beating out the rhythm on a tambourine. There are dramatic trails of pink-tinged cloud in the darkening sky. This painting forms one of a pair with NT 266412, Rinaldo and Armida, also by Charles de la Fosse.
Provenance
Painted for Ralph, 1st Duke of Montagu (1638-1708/9) for Montagu House, Bloomsbury, around 1687/88 -1691, probably for staircase (in the 1709 inventory as 'In ye Great closet/ 2 great picture of Urope by Lafosse') and Montagu House Inventory 1735 No.21; presumably moved to Boughton House on the sale of Montagu House to the Trustees of the British Museum in 1754; Boughton House Inventory 1827 no.164 as 'Mars and Venus' and attributed to Boucher; sold Sotheby's 20 July 1955, lot 50, bought Colnaghi and sold to Edward Langton Iliffe, 2nd Baron Iliffe of Yattendon (1908-1996) at Basildon; accepted in 1998 by HM Treasury in lieu of Inheritance Tax from the estate of Lord Iliffe
Credit line
Basildon Park, The Iliffe Collection (National Trust)
Makers and roles
Charles de La Fosse (1636 - 1716), artist previously catalogued as by François Boucher (Paris 1703 – Paris 1770), artist
Exhibition history
Mythological works of Charles de la Fosse, Palace of Versailles, France, 2015, no.37b Mythological works of Charles de la Fosse, Musée des beaux-arts de Nantes, France , 2015, no.37b
References
Hedley 2002 Jo Hedley, "Charles de la Fosse's 'Rinaldo and Armida' and Rape of Europa' at Basildon Park", The Burlington Magazine, vol. CXLIV, number 1189, April 2002, pp.204 - 212, fig. 2 Gustin-Gomez 2006 Clémentine Gustin-Gomez, Charles de La Fosse (1636 - 1716), 2 vols., Dijon, Faton, 2006, vol. II, p. 99-100, pl. 141 Charles de La Fosse (1636-1716): Le Triomphe de la Couleur (ed. Beatrice Sarrazin, Adeline Collange-Perugi et Clémentine Gustin-Gomez), 24 February-24 May 2015, Versailles Palace and 19 June - 20 September 2015, Musée des Beaux-Arts, Nantes, p.184, cat. 37b.