Telemachus and Termosiris
Louis Jean François Lagrenée (Paris 1725 – Paris 1805)
Category
Art / Oil paintings
Date
1770 (signed and dated)
Materials
Oil on canvas
Measurements
1092 x 864 mm (43 x 34 in)
Order this imageCollection
Stourhead, Wiltshire
NT 732111
Summary
Oil painting on canvas, Telemachus and Termosiris by Louis-Jean-François Lagrenée the elder (Paris 1725 – Paris 1805), signed and dated 1770. This picture depicts an episode from François Fénélon’s tale of aristocratic education, Les Aventures de Télémaque (1699). In a classical landscape, Termosiris, a priest of the god Apollo, is shown handing a flute to Telemachus, son of Ulysses and Penelope, so that he can learn the art and consolation of pastoral poetry. The painting was bought directly from the artist by the Hoare family for the sum of 1,500 French Livres under the title Télémaque recontre Thermosiris qui lui enseigne l'art d'être heureux dans l'esclave.
Provenance
Commissioned by the Duc de Choiseul (1719 – 1785); exhibited at the Paris Salon of 1771 (21); bought from the artist by the Hoare family, thence by descent; given to the National Trust along with the house, its grounds, and the rest of contents by Sir Henry Hugh Arthur Hoare, 6th Bt (1865 – 1947) in 1946.
Credit line
Stourhead, The Hoare Collection (The National Trust)
Makers and roles
Louis Jean François Lagrenée (Paris 1725 – Paris 1805)
References
Salon, Paris, 1771, no.21 Hoare 1822 Sir Richard Colt Hoare, History of Modern Wiltshire (Hundred of Mere),1822 , p.80 Stourhead 1838: Inventory of Heir-Looms at Stourhead directed to be taken by the Will of the late Sir Richard Colt Hoare Bart. with the state and condition thereof, 1838 , no.374 Stourhead 1898 Alda, Lady Hoare, Catalogue of Principal Paintings & Drawings at Stourhead July 6th 1898 (Ms.typescript), 1898 , p.21 France in the 18th century, Royal Academy, London, 1968, no.368 Angelica Kauffmann und ihre Zeitgenossen, Bregenz, 1968 , no.317, pl.130 Age of Neo-Classicism, Royal Academy (Council of Europe), London, 1972, no. 179