Oil on marble, 'The Sale of Cupids', Piat-Joseph Sauvage, Flemish, ca. 1799

Two women in profile seated face to face on stools, one selling cupids kept in a cage to the other.

Purchased, 1863

Historical significance: The attribution of this oil on marble, which imitates classical low-relief, to Piat-Joseph Sauvage was made in 1935 on the basis of documents found at the back of the marble. One of these papers, a letter from one 'Cajarelle ainé' of the Ministère de la Police Générale de la République to the "Citoyen Sauvage" is dated '11 Fructidor an 6 de la République' (i.e. August 1799), providing an approximate date for the painting.

It represents two women in profile seated face to face on stools, one selling cupids kept in a cage to the other. This composition appears to be derived from a fresco painting discovered in Stabia in 1759 and now in the Museo Nazionale Archeologico, Naples. The subject may embody an enigmatic allegorical meaning.

This work, which imitates classical low relief in its design and technique, demonstrates the influence of classical designs discovered in Herculaneum and Pompei on the art of the second half of the 18th century.A replica of this composition by Sauvage is in the Musée des Beaux-Arts de La Rochelle, however the small putto behind the seller is missing and the technique is in oil paint on copper. Another version, a grisaille painting (whereabouts unknown), was exhibited at the Academy of Saint Luke in 1774.

This subject was imitated by other painters such as Joseph-Marie Vien who painted a Marchande d'Amours in 1763, Musée du Château, Fontainebleau, Salomon Gessner, (engraving, 1770) and Henry Fuseli (drawing, ca. 1775, Collection Robert Halsband, New York).

The great popularity of the Mercantessa di Amorini provides an indication of the important part played by the excavations at Herculaneum and Pompeii in the rise of neo-classicism in the second half of the 18th century. The theme was revived by the French neo-Grecians (Hamon, Gérome, etc.) in the mid-19th century, and in c. 1875 Wilhelm von Kaulbach produced an erotic satire on the theme; nor was he, it appears, the first to do so.

Neo-classicism developed in the second half of the 18th century, stimulated by the archaeological rediscovery of ancient Roman and Greek civilisation and domestic life, especially at Herculaneum from 1738 and Pompeii from 1748. This revived interest for the Antique lifestyle was witnessed in the fine arts by the choice of subject matters inspired by Antique heroes such as those of Jacques-Louis David, which exalted republican heroism.
This taste also gave birth to furnished interiors combining Greek and Roman decorative and architectural sources. Neo-classical design was publicised through the Works in Architecture of Robert and James Adam (London, 1773-9) and became the official state-sponsored mode in Napoleonic France.

Born in Tournai, Sauvage studied painting in Tournai and Antwerp and became painter to the Netherlandish court in 1774. In the same year he moved to Paris, where he became a member of the Académie Royale (1783) and court painter to the Prince du Condé and to Louis XVI. During this period he returned frequently to Flanders, where he was engaged in buying pictures for the Comte D' Angiviller in 1785-86. He joined the side of the Revolutionaries in c. 1789, was allowed a studio in the Louvre and in 1795, commanded a battalion of the Parisian National Guard. Nevertheless, in 1814 he assured the Prince du Condé that he had been a royalist all the time. In 1808 he returned to Tournai, where he became a teacher at the Academy. He painted mainly decorative grisailles in imitation of classical sculpture, and also miniatures imitating cameos. His decorations still exist at the Chateaux of Compiègne (1785), Rambouillet (1786-87) and Fontainebleau (1786). Several of his portraits, including that of William Beckford, were engraved.

Piat-Joseph Sauvage (1744-1818) was a Flemish painter who trained at Antwerp under the supervision of J. Geraerts and G. van Spaendonk. He was in Paris by 1774 and enjoyed there a great success, specialising in trompe-l'oeil and grisaille paintings. He became a member of the Académie Royale in 1783.

This work is a typical example of Neo-classical decorative works fashionable at the end of the 18th century in Western Europe. It shows a woman selling cupids kept in a cage to another, a design derive from a fresco in Stabia near Pompei. This painting was particularly popular and several versions of it were produced by the same Sauvage and contemporary painters.

9120-1863