Amorini at play (one of a pair)
This pair of grisaille overdoors are painted in the manner of Piat Joseph Sauvage (1744–1818), a Flemish painter, known for his decorative paintings often using trompe l’oeil effects. It is possible that these two overdoors were part of a series representing the four elements. Water and fire are depicted on 07.225.315a – one putto holds an urn from which water flows, traditionally the depiction of a river god, while another holds a flaming torch. Air and earth are suggested on 07.225.315b – several putti play with bubbles, while another collects fruit and a third is frightened by a snake.
These overdoors, painted to simulate plaster reliefs, were part of the model collection of woodwork, paneling, and seat furniture of Maison Leys, a successful decorating business, located at the Place de la Madeleine in Paris. Since 1885 the business was directed by Georges Hoentschel who installed the collection in 1903 in a museum-like display at Boulevard Flandrin, Paris. Three years later, Hoentschel sold the collection to J. Pierpont Morgan who gave the overdoors with the rest of the decorator’s seventeenth and eighteenth-century objects to the Metropolitan Museum of Art in 1907.
These overdoors, painted to simulate plaster reliefs, were part of the model collection of woodwork, paneling, and seat furniture of Maison Leys, a successful decorating business, located at the Place de la Madeleine in Paris. Since 1885 the business was directed by Georges Hoentschel who installed the collection in 1903 in a museum-like display at Boulevard Flandrin, Paris. Three years later, Hoentschel sold the collection to J. Pierpont Morgan who gave the overdoors with the rest of the decorator’s seventeenth and eighteenth-century objects to the Metropolitan Museum of Art in 1907.
Artwork Details
- Title: Amorini at play (one of a pair)
- Artist: Manner of Piat Joseph Sauvage (Flemish, Tournai 1744–1818 Tournai)
- Date: 1770–90
- Culture: French
- Medium: Oil on canvas
- Dimensions: Overall: 21 3/4 × 33 7/8 in. (55.2 × 86 cm)
- Classification: Paintings-Decorative
- Credit Line: Gift of J. Pierpont Morgan, 1906
- Object Number: 07.225.315a
- Curatorial Department: European Sculpture and Decorative Arts
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Piat Joseph Sauvage
1770–90
Piat Joseph Sauvage
second half 18th century
Piat Joseph Sauvage
18th century
Piat Joseph Sauvage
1770–90
Piat Joseph Sauvage
1770–90
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