Jupiter and Mercury reveal themselves to Philemon and Baucis

Elie-Honoré Montagny French

Not on view

This drawing depicts the story of Baucis and Philemon, which is taken from Ovid’s Metamorphoses (VIII,611). Its central theme is the virtue of hospitality. Jupiter and Mercury—in disguise—are turned away from every house in the village before the elderly couple invite them in and offer to share their meager meal. Montagny does not show the gods in disguise, but illustrates instead the moment when the divinity of the guests is revealed to the couple. Upon their death, they were transformed into a pair of intertwined trees: one oak and one linden.

Elie Honoré Montagny was a student of Jacques Louis David. He resided in Naples from 1804 to 1815 and it is to this period that his most famour works can be dated. A related painting, with a number of differences in the composition, is in the Palazzo Reale, Caserta, a palace near Naples.

Jupiter and Mercury reveal themselves to Philemon and Baucis, Elie-Honoré Montagny (French, Paris 1782–1864 Paris), Pen and brown ink, brush and brown and gray washes, with touches of white gouache. Laid down. Squared in graphite.

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