Page 34 - Jacques Blanchard - Myth and Allegory

curiosity that puts it beyond mere lust. One
might argue that whatever the specific subject
of the picture, it, like the Venus and Adonis
Departing for the Hunt, might too be an epyllion,
a small epic poem to love.

The painting has a wholly baroque sense of
tension and ornament, but Blanchard’s intimate
composition and sumptuous technique sets A
Bravo Disturbing a Sleeping Nymph above the
purely decorative or theatrical. At this late
stage in the Blanchard’s career, although still a
young man and presumably without the
intellectual and moral maturity of both Poussin
and Claude, the artist is moving towards a
more cerebral approach to the subject matter.
Indeed, in this picture, Blanchard appears to be
at the forefront of the profound change which
was to overwhelm French baroque painting by
the 1640’s, when the intellectual content of a
painting became more important to both artist
and patron than its decorative and sensual
elements. This trend, as suggested by
Blanchard in A Bravo Disturbing a Sleeping
Nymph, albeit subtly, nevertheless predates
Poussin’s arrival in Paris in 1640, and in this
respect, this work eloquently asserts
Blanchard’s unique and important position in
the development of the French baroque.

A.G.

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