Henri Pierre PICOU (1824-1895) - Lot 48

Henri Pierre PICOU (1824-1895) Flora clipping the wings of Love Original canvas. Signed lower left. 85 x 61.5 cm. Unframed. Another version of Psyché coupant les ailes de l'amour, an oil on canvas from 1881, signed lower left (1). Measuring 62x51 cm, this painting is smaller in format than ours, but features the same arrangement of characters: in a forest landscape, Psyche seated on the left, wearing a crown of flowers, a drooping white tunic and a blue drapery covering her knees, cuts the wings of Love on the left. These two other mythological compositions, Cupid's Arrow (2) and Venus and Cupid (3), are similar to our painting; Venus shares the same physical attributes as Flora: the white tunic slipping over her shoulder, the blue drapery, and the crown of flowers resting on her loose hair. The arrangement of Cupid and Venus echoes that of Psyche clipping Love's wings, always bathed in the atmosphere of a peaceful forest. (1) Psyche clipping the wings of love, 1881, oil on canvas, 62 x 51 cm. Sale of Modern Paintings, 21/06/1987, Champin-Lombrail-Gautier, Enghien-les-Bains, France. (2) Cupid's Arrow, oil on canvas, 62 x 50 cm, signed lower right. Christie's New-York sale, 11/02/1997. (3) Venus and Cupid, oil on canvas, 100.3 x 74.9 cm, signed lower left. Christie's New-York sale, 10/13/1994.