Creative Commons License
Section from "The Government of the Queen"
(18th and 19th Centuries )
The original painting is from the Medici cycle commissioned in 1622 for the Luxembourg Palace by the Dowager Queen, Marie de' Medici, and completed by Rubens and his assistants within three years. When the palace was presented to the Senate of the Republic in 1808, the twenty-one monumental canvases were transferred to the Louvre where they have since been displayed. Preliminary studies for the cycle are preserved in the Alte Pinakothek, Munich.
The scene is set on Mount Olympus. In this copy, which is a detail from the right side of the original composition, Apollo and Mars are seen in the foreground expelling Discord and Envy. Behind are several Olympian deities, including Venus partially swathed in pink drapery, and Ceres.
Until 1937, this copy bore the signature "E. Delacroix," which was proved to be spurious during conservation treatment. Prior to 1937 the painting was consistently recorded as a work of Eugène Delacroix, an attribution which has not been substantiated by stylistic comparisons or documentary evidence. It is now catalogued as an anonymous copy after Peter Paul Rubens.
Inscription
Provenance
Provenance (from the French provenir, 'to come from/forth') is the chronology of the ownership, custody, or location of a historical object. Learn more about provenance at the Walters.
Daniel Cottier, London [date and mode of acquisition unknown]; E. F. Milliken Sale, American Art Galleries, New York, February 14, 1902, no. 20; Henry Walters, Baltimore, 1902, by purchase; Walters Art Museum, 1931, by bequest.
Exhibitions
| 1980 | Undercover Stories in Art. The Walters Art Gallery, Baltimore. |
| 1886 | International Exhibition of Industry, Science and Art. Edinburgh. |
Conservation
| Date | Description | Narrative |
|---|---|---|
| 11/30/1937 | Treatment | cleaned |
Measurements
H: 19 11/16 x W: 12 13/16 in. (50 x 32.5 cm)
Credit Line
Acquired by Henry Walters, 1902
Location in Museum
Not on view
Accession Number
In libraries, galleries, museums, and archives, an accession number is a unique identifier assigned to each object in the collection.
In libraries, galleries, museums, and archives, an accession number is a unique identifier assigned to each object in the collection.
37.1