Zeus with Hera expelling Hephaestus (previously called Zeus with Cybele expelling Chronos)
Gaetano Gandolfi (1734 - 1802)
Category
Art / Oil paintings
Date
1761 - 1769
Materials
Oil on canvas
Measurements
630 x 760 x 60 mm; 2.5 kg (Weight)
Order this imageCollection
Osterley Park and House, London
NT 772288
Summary
Oil painting on canvas, Zeus with Hera expelling Hephaestus (previously called Zeus with Cybele expelling Chronos) by Gaetano Gandolfi (Emilia Romagna 1734- Bologna 1802), 1761/69. A naked Zeus, with eagle and thunderbolt with his left foot on the back of a naked boy, Zeus's right hand holds the hand of a goddess, dressed in a plain white dress; putti hold the leg of the falling male figure. This is, as related in Homer's Iliad (1.590) the expulsion of Hephaestus (Vulcan) by Zeus (Jupiter) accompanied by Hera (Juno), gesturing to three gold crowns being held up by putti, whom her son was trying to stop her quarreling with the god.
Provenance
For a festive carriage for 'Senatore Marescalchi' [not (too young) Count Ferdinando Marescalchi (1754 - 1816) but probably his father Vincenzo Antonio Maria Marescalchi (1701-1793) of Bologna]; with the Arcade Gallery (Paul Wengraf), London, around 1957; a pendant to what was called The Birth of Venus (NT 772285); bequeathed by Mrs Ellett (widow of the purchaser) (1994/2001)
Makers and roles
Gaetano Gandolfi (1734 - 1802) , artist
References
Cazort 1993 Mimi Cazort, The Art of Embellishment: Drawings and Paintings by Gaetano and Mauro Gandolfi for a Festive Carriage, Record of the Art Museum, Princeton University, vol. 52, no. (1993), pp. 29-39 Vicenza 1987 Neri Pozza Vicenza, I Gandolfi: Ubaldo, Gaetano, Mauro, disegni e dipinti, 1987