The Sleep of Endymion C.1700; Attributed to Nicolas Bertin (1668-1736)

Oil on canvas in a fine carved and gilded 17th century frame.

The goddess Selene is suspended before a large moon amongst clouds and a moody sky. She gazes upon the handsome shepherd Endymion sleeping beside his father Zeus on Mount Latmus. Endymion was a legendary character in Greek mythology. The details of his compelling legend have inspired art, poetry, and literature over the centuries. And the reason we enjoy Endymion's tale is obvious - it is an unconventional love story. For in myth, Endymion was a remarkably handsome mortal man who caught the eye of a goddess.

There a several subtle variations about the life of Endymion however these varying accounts are much less important than the part of the myth that matters most, which is, of course, his relationship with the goddess Selene. According to mythology, Selene, the eternally beautiful goddess of the Moon, gazed upon Endymion and fell madly in love with him. She believed him to be so beautiful that she asked Endymion's father, Zeus, to grant him eternal youth so that he would never leave her. Alternatively, Selene so loved how Endymion looked when he was asleep in the cave on Mount Latmus, near Miletus in Caria, that she entreated Zeus that he might remain that way. In either case, Zeus granted her wish and put him into an eternal sleep. Every night, Selene visited him where he slept. Selene and Endymion had fifty daughters who are equated by some scholars with the fifty months of the Olympiad.

In the depiction of Selene observing the sleeping Endymion, Bertin created a majestic, theatrical backdrop. Through gesture and facial expression Bertin adeptly described a range of emotions. The figure painting is excellent and the anatomical and facial details are closely observed and very beautiful.

Nicolas Bertin (1667-1736) was born in Paris and was primarily a painter of religious, mythological, and allegorical subjects. Although trained in the rigorous French academic traditions under Jean-Baptiste Jouvenet (1644-1717), Charles Le Brun (1619-1690), and Louis de Boullogne (1654-1733), he often emulated the broader style of Titian, Paolo Veronese, and other Venetian Renaissance masters. Bertin was awarded the Prix de Rome in 1685 which was a French scholarship for arts students, initially for painters and sculptors, that was established in 1663. Winners were awarded a bursary that allowed them to stay in Rome for three to five years at the expense of the state. He was admitted to the premier art institution in France in the eighteenth century, the Académie Royale de Peinture et de Sculpture in 1703.

Measurements: Height 95cm, Width 81cm framed (Height 37”, Width 32” framed)

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