1785-1788

The Race between Atalanta and Hippomenes

French, 1743 - 1788

This sculpted relief and another titled The Triumph of Flora are plaster models produced by Joseph Deschamps and his workshop for a pair of monumental marbles commissioned for Queen Marie Antoinette of France (1755–1793). A finished stone relief was carved from this plaster and installed at the top of a grand stair hall leading to the queen’s state apartments in the Château of Saint-Cloud, just outside Paris, which had been purchased for the queen in 1785 and was partly renovated under the direction of the architect Richard Mique (1728–1794).

This panel shows a story from Ovid's Metamorphoses of a race between Atalanta and her suitor, Hippomenes. Assisted by Venus, Roman goddess of love, Hippomenes throws golden apples in Atalanta's path in order to slow her down and win the race. The stone reliefs were damaged when the château was destroyed in 1870 during the Franco-Prussian War; however, this plaster model was apparently preserved in an outbuilding.