Lairesse, Gérard de (1641-1711)
Apollo and Aurora
1671
Oil on canvas, 204.5 x 193.4 cm
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
Largely forgotten today, De Lairesse was celebrated in his lifetime as a painter and advocate for an idealizing manner based on the study of classical antiquity. This work, likely destined to hang over the mantelpiece in a grand Amsterdam home, depicts the sun god consorting with the goddess of the dawn, a popular subject in French and Italian painting at the time. The attractively individualized young faces have led to speculation that they may be disguised portraits of a newly married couple. (MET)