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Painted Fire Screen
(18th and 19th Centuries )
Originally mounted as a screen to cover a fireplace during warm weather, in this exotic painting the artist has transformed the hearth into a miniature stage. Three fanciful Chinese characters hold aloft a circular screen on which is depicted the mythological story of Zeus showering Danaë with gold. A pair of figures, painted in grisaille on the side wall, incise their names on a tree trunk, a motif symbolizing eternal love. The fire screen is the earliest recorded work of Vigoureux Duplessis, an artist who was associated with decorative projects for the Paris Opera, the Royal Academy of Music, and the Beauvais Tapestry Manufactory.
Inscription
Provenance
Provenance (from the French provenir, 'to come from/forth') is the chronology of the ownership, custody, or location of a historical object.
Jules Strauss, Paris; Sale, Galerie Charpentier, Paris, May 27, 1949, no. 40; Sale, Hôtel Drouot, Paris, February 6, 1970; Galerie Pardo, Paris [date and mode of acquisition unknown]; Walters Art Museum, 1972, by purchase.
Exhibitions
| 1995-1996 | Maryland Institute College of Art (MICA) Students Go for Baroque. The Walters Art Gallery, Baltimore. |
| 1995-1996 | Going for Baroque. The Walters Art Gallery, Baltimore. |
| 1979 | Chinoiserie: The Chinese Influence. Taft Museum of Art, Cincinnati. |
| 1975-1976 | The Age of Louis XV, French Painting 1710-1774. Toledo Museum of Art, Toledo; The Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago; National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa. |
| 1929 | Le Théatre à Paris (XVIIe-XVIIIe siècle). Musée Carnavalet, Paris. |
Geographies
France (Place of Origin)
Measurements
34 1/4 x 46 1/16 in. (87 x 117 cm);
framed: 44 x 55 1/2 x 3 1/2 in. (111.8 x 141 x 8.9 cm)
Credit Line
Museum purchase, 1972
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.
37.2479