The greatest authors of the ancient world including Ovid and Virgil told sensuous and compelling tales of the lives and loves of the gods. Centuries later, the leading French painters of the 18th century, including Watteau, Boucher, and Fragonard, used these stories as subjects for charming, poignant, and passionate paintings. Many are among the most ambitious and beautiful paintings of the period. Some 65 of these, never seen before in America, are included in this exhibition, which was first shown in Paris. Related prints, porcelains, sculptures and tapestries, drawn from the collections of the Philadelphia Museum of Art, embellish the presentation. Organized by the Kimbell Art Museum with the Philadelphia Museum of Art and the Réunion de Musées Nationaux, the exhibition presents such famous works as Watteau's Jupiter and Antiope, Boucher's Diana at the Bath and Venus Requesting Vulcan to Make Arms for Aeneas, and Fragonard's Diana and Endymion.

Curators

Colin B. Bailey
Pierre Rosenberg
Christopher Riopelle

Itinerary

Réunion des Musées Nationaux, Paris
Philadelphia Museum of Art
Kimbell Art Museum, Fort Worth, Texas