Charles Michel Ange CHALLES (1718 - 1778) attributed.The rest of Venus

83.5 cm by 58.5 cm re-lined canvas
100 cm by 84 cm old frame

Venus is seated in a sumptuous velvet decor whose hangings rise to form a canopy, in the background the foliage of a garden and the powerful jet of a fountain. Two little putti accompany the goddess, one arranges her hair, the other holds a mirror for her. On the left two doves, a bird which has symbolized it since Minoan times.

Charles Michel Ange CHALLES (1718; 1778)

He was a pupil of François Lemoyne then of François Boucher. In 1739, he won the Prix de Rome with The Healing of Tobias. He was received as an Academician in 1753 after creating an allegorical painting for the ceiling of the Academy as a reception piece. Thanks to the royal favour, he was successively appointed professor of perspective in 1758 (he was highly appreciated for his architectural drawings in the style of Piranesi) then draftsman of the King's cabinet in 1765, a position for which he produced numerous ephemeral architectures for feasts and great royal funerals. Louis XV ennobled him in 1770. Challes was responsible for organizing the shows at Fontainebleau in 1763 and designing the illuminations of Versailles on the occasion of the birth of the Dauphin. The success of his paintings and drawings is considerable, his paintings were bought even before being finished at considerable prices for the time. Among the best of his paintings are cited, the death of Cleopatra, the death of Seneca and Dido at the stake.