GIOVANNI BOULANGER
Troyes, 1606 ca. – Modena, 1660
Aeneas and Achates speaking to Venus in the guise of a huntress
oil on canvas, cm 202×159
The scene depicted in the painting is the episode from the Aeneid in which Aeneas and Achates meet the goddess Venus, in the guise of a warrior, who shows the two leaders the way to Carthage.
According to art expert Arabella Cifani, the canvas unmistakably displays the style of French painter Jean Boulanger due to “a strong pursuit of naturalness, distantly rooted in the style of Correggio, rendered in the freshness of the complexions and the silky highlights in the hair.” The subject depicted is also unusual and was particularly rare until the 18th century.
Boulanger arrived in Italy at a very young age as a pupil of Guido Reni, between 1626 and 1637, and was very successful at the Este court for which he executed several works at the Ducal Palace in Sassuolo. His style is perfectly in line with the “cultural receptiveness that characterised French artists in Italy” in the first half of the 17th century, a fusion between Carracci and Reni’s Emilian school with the French school.
Boulanger’s soft drafting, mellow luminosity in the manner of Reni’s maturity and hints of Venetian colourism, recognisable in the rapid brushstrokes and rosy hues, can be observed in our painting.
Numerous comparisons can be made with Boulanger’s works at the Palazzo Ducale in Sassuolo, full of warriors and female figures that recall our Venus in their pose and features.
The canvas can therefore be dated to around the 1630s, probably during the period when the painter started work in Sassuolo.