Jules Joseph Lefebvre

Author: Jules Joseph Lefebvre (Tournan-en-Brie, March 14, 1836 - Paris, February 24, 1912)

Period: 19th century

JULES JOSEPH LEFEBVRE "Allegory of vices and virtues" Oil on canvas, 100x150 cm, with inscription on the back "paint par J.Lefebvre". Provenance: Italian private collection The painting depicts a kneeling young man being coaxed by a group of young women depicting vices and virtues. On the right standing the Glory hands him a laurel branch, next to him he has a woman who is an allegory of Silence. A mature and wise woman caresses the child's head: she has a winged crown and is the allegory of Victory. Behind the Victory a beautiful young woman in a blue robe quilted with stars points towards the sky and the virtues that lead upward. Immediately afterwards follows Venus, half-naked crowned with roses with a dove (her attribute) in her hand: she looks at the boy smiling and holds a lyre, signifying the pleasures of love and of fragile and fleeting things. At the feet of Venus a bacchant crowned with ivy and dressed in red lewdly observes the young man, kneeling next to her an auleta with long flutes, blue robes and a head covered with flowers, invites us to oblivion and enjoyment. In the background are a veiled woman and a half-naked bacchant with a thyrsus intent on a wild dance. The painting is an important work of one of the most significant French painters of the late nineteenth century: Jules Joseph Lefebvre. The artist specialized in allegories, genre scenes, portraits and nudes. Winner of the Prix de Rome in 1861, during his stay in Italy he also painted many works with subjects taken from classical antiquity. Returning to Paris he became a famous academic, known for his paintings depicting beautiful and statuary women, both nude and draped. His canvases are in the main French and European museums.