Description
French or Italian school XVIIth/XVIIIth century Clobis and Biton Oil on canvas in brown camaïeu 43 x 77 cm Without frame Cleobis and Biton were twin brothers, two athletes from the Greek city of Argos. Every year, the Argians organized a festival in honor of the goddess Hera. Her heavy statue, dragged on a chariot by oxen, was ceremoniously taken to the temple dedicated to her, the "Heraion". One year, the oxen did not arrive from the countryside. Cleobis and Biton devoted themselves to pulling the cart to the temple where their mother was waiting for them. A feast was held, and the brothers fell asleep. They never woke up, because Hera had granted them the best favor for mortals, that of dying in piety. On our grisaille, probably a sketch, the goddess on her chariot looks strangely alive. A certain archaism incites us to situate the work in the 17th century, but we cannot exclude the work of an 18th century artist, at the dawn of neoclassicism.
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French or Italian school XVIIth/XVIIIth century Clobis and Biton Oil on canvas in brown camaïeu 43 x 77 cm Without frame Cleobis and Biton were twin brothers, two athletes from the Greek city of Argos. Every year, the Argians organized a festival in honor of the goddess Hera. Her heavy statue, dragged on a chariot by oxen, was ceremoniously taken to the temple dedicated to her, the "Heraion". One year, the oxen did not arrive from the countryside. Cleobis and Biton devoted themselves to pulling the cart to the temple where their mother was waiting for them. A feast was held, and the brothers fell asleep. They never woke up, because Hera had granted them the best favor for mortals, that of dying in piety. On our grisaille, probably a sketch, the goddess on her chariot looks strangely alive. A certain archaism incites us to situate the work in the 17th century, but we cannot exclude the work of an 18th century artist, at the dawn of neoclassicism.
