140 - FRENCH SCHOOL circa 1760, entourage of Michel François DANDRE BARDON

FRENCH SCHOOL circa 1760, entourage of Michel François DANDRE BARDON Auguste paying posthumous homage to Alexandre canvas 48 x 65 cm Old restorations Nota : Suetonius, in his "Lives of the Twelve Caesars" (Augustus, chap. 18) reports that Augustus (-63 BC - 14 AD) "wanted Alexander's tomb opened and his body removed; he put a golden crown on his head, covered him with flowers and paid him pious homage. And when asked if he didn't want to see the Ptolemies too, he replied: I wanted to see a king, not the dead. He was thus repeating the gesture of Alexander, who visited Achilles' tomb to pay homage to him and follow in his footsteps. Sébastien Bourdon also treated the subject around 1645 in a painting in the Louvre, introducing Alexander's horse, Bucephalus, into his composition... Expert : Cabinet Turquin