Lot 26: *ANTOINE DUBOST

*ANTOINE DUBOST
(FRENCH, 1769-1825)
LE RETOUR D'HELENE
signed in Greek (center right edge)
oil on canvas
51 1/2 by 75 5/8 in. 130.8 by 192.1 cm.
Helene, the daughter of Zeus and Leda, was married to Menelaus when she was seduced by Paris and taken to Troy. Thus began the Trojan War, which lasted for ten years. The present lot depicts an episode at the end of the war, when Helene and Menelaus are reunited and return to Sparta.
Dubost was a painter of mythological scenes, as well as a printmaker. He is part of the tradition of Neo-classical French artists, who were influenced by a revival of Antiquity which began with the rediscovery of Pompeii and Herculaeum in the mid-Eighteenth century, and reached its pictorial apogee in the works of Jacques-Louis David. Dubost's Le Retour de Helene reflects the prevailing taste of this period. He has composed the figures in a dramatic frieze-like composition, and included such Antique motifs as the palmettes on the chariot, Antique dress and a classical column in the left of the composition. The earlier emphasis on political and imperial themes in Neoclassical art which were championed during the French Revolution and reign of Napoleon, give way to a more romantic episode in the present lot, although it is depicted with equal grandeur.