Lairesse, Gérard de (1641-1711)
Venus Giving Arms to Aeneas (Venus schenkt wapens aan Aeneas)
1668
Oil on canvas, 161.8 x 165.8 cm
Museum Mayer van den Bergh, Antwerp
In the 17th century, classicism broke through, also in golden Holland. Artists and their patrons from the elite eagerly drew on themes from antiquity and liked to show off their intellectual baggage. This is an early ‘chimney piece’ by the painter and theorist Gerard de Lairesse.
Venus and Aeneas
The half-naked female figure on a cloud is the goddess Venus, wife of Vulcan, the handy Harry among the ancient gods. Venus was also the mother of the Trojan hero Aeneas, whom she had with the mortal Anchises. Venus points out to Aeneas the golden armor that Vulcan has made for him and that will help him to fight battle in his new promised land, Italy. Five putti – let’s say: big toddlers – are busy handing him the pieces. In Italy, Aeneas’ descendants will found Rome much later, according to myth. Great names such as Julius Caesar and Augustus traced their family tree back to this Aeneas.
The reclining and naked male figure is a river god, as evidenced by the jug near him. Presumably it is the Tiber, given the theme of this work. Rivers were often depicted as reclining, bearded men as early as ancient times. More generally, Greco-Roman myths were an alibi for depicting nudes, especially in the combination of ‘female loveliness’ and ‘masculine drive’. It has also been suggested that the figure of Aeneas may be a portrait historié: a portrait of the commissioner, but in the guise of a mythological or historical figure.
The Lairesse
Gerard de Lairesse was born in Liège and was the son of the painter Reinier de Lairesse, who trained him in the trade. At the age of 24, Gerard moved to Amsterdam with his wife Marie Salme, where he founded a successful studio and launched a new form of room decoration: painted canvases for walls and ceilings. This work was probably a chimney piece. Around the age of fifty, De Lairesse became blind and since then he devoted himself to art theory. He gave lectures on this subject in Amsterdam and published two treatises that helped lay the foundation for classical art theory, including the Groot schilderboeck in 1707. Classicist painters admired, among other things, antique statues, which, according to them, perfectly depicted the beauty of nature.
Learned painter
Thanks to auction catalogues, we know that around 1800 the subject of this painting could still be correctly identified. But when Fritz Mayer van den Bergh bought it in 1896, it was called ‘an allegory’ and in the oldest museum catalogues the scene is referred to as ‘Achilles and his mother Thetis’. It was not until 1924 that Edouard Michel recognized in this painting an episode from the Aeneid (The Story of Aeneas) by the Roman poet Virgil (8, 608-625). This is Venus rushing to the aid of her son in Italy by providing him with weapons: “Venus, the goddess shining among the celestial clouds, appeared to bring her gifts.” Among these gifts, much attention is paid to the shield, on which, according to Virgil, the future of Rome that was yet to be founded was depicted, including the scene in which the she-wolf suckles the twins Romulus and Remus and also the story of the rape of the Sabine virgins. He also depicted De Lairesse on the shield. Virgil also mentions the ‘cool river’ where this scene takes place and the fact that Venus takes her son by the hand. In other words, the pictor doctus or ‘learned painter’ De Lairesse followed the Roman poet quite literally, in a composition he borrowed from the Italian artist Pietro Testa (1611-1650). We know that De Lairesse made an etching after this painting and also a smaller painted version. The composition is slightly different there, because it also depicts an oak tree that Virgil writes about. A few years before him, Ferdinand Bol painted the same theme in Amsterdam, a work that De Lairesse undoubtedly saw. In those years, Bol won the most important large-format commissions in Amsterdam.
Error
Venus, in particular, is presented here as a ‘classical’ goddess. At the same time, De Lairesse took a close look at colleagues who painted Dutch still lifes, as evidenced by the gleaming details and the powerful colours of the weapons. But what is particularly striking is the powerful, dynamic dynamics that the figures radiate. They also demand all the attention: there is hardly any décor. Only the cloth behind Venus blows up, like a real gust of wind. Some forty years after the painting was made, De Lairesse will apologize for a mistake in his Groot schilderboeck: Aeneas wears a Greek helmet and not a Roman one. (MMB)
See also:
• Virgil (70 BC-19 BC): The Aeneid (English)