Page 33 - Jacques Blanchard - Myth and Allegory
P. 33
Fig. 6 - Paolo Veronese, Blanchard’s fluffy fronds and sinuous tree limbs
The Rape of Europa, frame the sleeping nymph and her admirer in a
manner which, while far from naturalistic,
oil on canvas, 245 x 310 cm, stops short of the purely artificial, and in this
Palazzo Ducale,Venice, inv. PC 45 respect, Blanchard’s enduring debt toVeronese
is evident. (Fig. 6) In contradistinction to his
more personal approach to anatomy, here,
Blanchard’s ‘landscape’ remains resolutely
Italian. The scene has none of the studied
artificiality of the theatrical baroque, nor is it
Arcadian. It is instead liminal, and therefore all
the more effective as the setting for whatever
subject Blanchard originally meant to illustrate
in this evocative work.
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When this picture first appeared on the
French art market, it was catalogued as
Cimon and Iphegenia, Boccaccio’s unmatched
but true lovers, but the present picture has
none of the ribald or rustic we would expect to
find in this subject.50 Instead, we are
witnessing an altogether more sophisticated
treatment of romantic peril, a theme typical of
both the period and the genre. Instead of
merely emphasising the sensuality of the scene,
Blanchard captures the tenderness of the
Bravo’s attention. He lifts the Nymph’s cloak to
better see her, even at the risk of waking her
and shattering the quiet of the scene, and this
gesture gives weight and meaning to his sensual
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