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Allegory of Night

Maker

After
(artist)
1619-1690

Formerly attributed to
(artist)
1661-1722

Title

Allegory of Night

Date of Production

17th century

Medium

red chalk on laid paper

Dimensions

Height: 34.7 cm
Width: 44.8 cm

Accession Number

D.1982.JW.29

Mode of Acquisition

John Witt, Art Fund bequest & grant aid, 1982

Credit

The Courtauld, London (Samuel Courtauld Trust)

Copyright

Work in the public domain

Location

Not currently on display

Keywords

Label Text

A winged figure accompanied by owls, bats and other nocturnal creatures depicts night-time. Possibly Hecate, possibly Morpheus, god of sleep and dreams, the figure’s dark veil contrasts with the moonlight radiating from the crescent moon beneath Artemis’s chariot. Veils and drapery were regarded as painting’s ornaments. Here, drapery not only decorates the body, the veil also forms a cartouche-like setting for Night. Drawn from below, the composition suggests a design for a ceiling; it is an accomplished and inventive copy of a scene from Le Brun’s famous ceiling for the pavilion of Aurora at Sceaux.

Provenance

anonymous sale, Sotheby's (London), 4 November 1953, lot 13; purchased there by Colnaghi (London); purchased there by Sir John Witt, London (1907-1982), L.646a, 1 December 1956 (£10, as by French School, early 18th century); John Witt Bequest via the Art Fund 1982

Exhibition History

Drawings Gallery Display - Ornament by Design, The Courtauld Gallery, London, 23/04/2016-12/06/2016

Narrative Folds (Pop-up exhibition), The Courtauld Gallery, London, 01/06/2013-01/06/2013

Inscriptions

Watermark: Watermark: Verso, centre, two lines of text in banners, first line difficult to read: “[...] MOYEN / AUVERGNE //” (nothing found in Heawood that seems to match).

Inscription: Mount (removed, in portfolio from P&D), Recto: lower centre, brown ink: “m”; lower left corner, graphite: “774”.

Collector's mark: Mount (removed, in portfolio from P&D), Recto: lower left corner, stamped in black ink: John Witt (L.646a).

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