(Liège 1641–1711 Amsterdam)
Herse awaiting the Arrival of Mercury,
oil on canvas, 67.3 x 83.3 cm, framed

Provenance:
Saul P. Steinberg Collection, Christie’s, 15th April 2008, lot 332;
Timothy Whealon Inc., New York, item 87 (according to a label on the reverse);
private collection, New York

Gérard de Lairesse (1640–1711) was celebrated as the “Dutch Raphael” and “Dutch Poussin” by his contemporaries and 18th century admirers and was one of the most well-known academic artists of 17th century Holland. Lairesse trained under his father Renier de Lairesse, and Betholet Flémal in his birth town of Liège. When Lairesse first arrived in Amsterdam in 1665, he was drawn to Rembrandt’s late style, and so partly diverged from the Italian classical tradition that he was trained in early on in his artistic career. He frequently visited Rembrandt’s studio and a portrait of Lairesse by Rembrandt can be seen in the Lehman Collection at the Metropolitan Museum of Art.In spite of Rembrandt’s influence, it was not long before the classical ideals of the French academy made the strongest impression on his style. As a highly successful artist, Lairesse was commissioned to paint many major mythological and historical decorations for civic buildings and private palaces, some of which were owned by Prince William III of Orange. Many of these large commissions were carried out by Lairesse with the help of the landscape painter Jan Glauber (1646–1726?), whose own strengths lay in the depiction of Arcadian scenes in the tradition of Dughet.

Lairesse’s style of painting was disseminated through the large number of prints of his own compositions that he had published. Lairesse sadly went blind in 1690, however this did not affect the role that he held as a leader in Dutch taste, and he regularly delivered lectures on art theory and practice. His lectures were brought together into two volumes just before his death: Grondlegging der Teekenkunst (‘Fundamentals of the Art of Drawing’; 1701) and Het Groot Schilderboek (‘The Great Book of Painting’; 1707). Lairesse’s ideas may have been shaped by earlier precepts of French academic art, however they still held a strong influence during the 18th century and were regularly translated and reprinted.

The present painting was originally believed to depict Venus Surrounded by Putti, however, Alain Roy has suggested that it more likely shows Herse Awaiting the Arrival of Mercury (written communication, June, 2000). In this story, which can be found in Ovid’s Metamorphoses (2:708–832), three sisters were returning from a festival of Minerva carrying her sacred baskets on their heads. Mercury spotted them and immediately fell in love with Herse, who was the most beautiful of the sisters. Out of jealousy, her sister, Aglauros, tried to stop Mercury from going to Herse’s bedchamber one night. He touched her with his wand and turned her into black stone, to represent the colour of her thoughts. The present painting illustrates a less dramatic moment in the story, when Herse is waiting for her lover in her bedchamber and is surrounded by amorini.