Merry-Joseph Blondel e Louis Lafitte, Psiche porta a Venere un vaso con l'acqua della Giovinezza; Psiche al bagno; I genitori di Psiche consultano l'oracolo di Apollo; Psiche trasportata da Zefiro; Ps…

Twelve papiers peints. Dufour Manufacture, Paris early nineteenth century, grey tempera and white lead on canvas paper, 2 panels 180x212 cm; 2 panels 180x160 cm; 4 panels 180x53 cm; 1 panel 180x88 cm; 3 panels 180x106 cm, Antiques Maurizio Nobile, Bologna, Odile Nouvel-Kammerer, Papiers Peints panoramiques, Musée des Art Decoratifs, Flammarion, Paris 1990, pp 262,263; , H. Clouzot, Le papier peint en France du XVII au XIX siècle, Paris, ed. Van Oest, 1931, tav. XXV-XXVI, Complete series produced by the French manufactory Dufour and taken from the drawings of Louis Lafitte and Merry-Joseph Blondel who, from 1814 to 1816 in Paris, collaborated on the scenes of the Loves of Psyche and Cupid from the novel by Jean de La Fontaine, on paper painted in camaïeu (chiaroscuro) in grey or sepia. , , At the beginning of the 19th century, Joseph Dufour's atelier started an innovative interior decoration, the papiers peints on large sheets, which could compete with the classic tapestry and the more expensive wall paintings. Limited edition, hand-printed or with wooden plates, the product allowed the creation of a sort of continuous panorama on the walls of the houses, with the intention of a private fruition., The paper destined to cover the walls revealed particularly suggestive staging capacities, by means of still images, as in the case of the "Stories of Cupid and Psyche" presented in this lot, characterized by a great attention to the rendering of the details and by a soft and sinuous line, The Dufour atelier inaugurated the "Cupid and Psyche" series in 1819 at the Exposition des produits de l'industrie francaise in Paris, achieving immediate success both in France and abroad, in the wake of the success achieved at the 1806 exhibition by the large-scale panoramas produced by the same atelier and dedicated to the Sauvages de la Mer Pacifique, also known as Les Voyages du Capitaine Cook.., In contrast to the exotic character of the "Pacific Savages", which was typically French at the beginning of the century, the "Amore e Psiche" series is inspired by Neoclassical taste, and therefore remains linked to both fairy tales and classical antiquity, , , Bibliography: , , ,