Circle of Jean-Baptiste Regnault
Danaë
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Circle of Jean-Baptiste Regnault
Paris 1754 - 1829
Danaë
oil on canvas, an oval
canvas: 21 by 25½ in.; 53.3 by 64.7 cm.
framed: 27¾ by 31¾ in.; 70.4 by 80.6 cm.
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A year before that painting was presented at the Salon, a Danaë attributed to Regnault came up for auction in the Auguste-Gabriel Godefroy sale held on 2 April 1794. It was described as "a half-length Danaë, oval-shaped widthwise" but it was withdrawn from the sale. The reason for this was perhaps revealed twenty years later at the sale of Godefroy's estate on 14 December 1813, when the canvas was sold as a "vividly colored, meticulously painted piece after Monsieur Regnault. 23 x 19 p [approx. 62 x 51 cm]." It has been suggested by Mehdi Korchane, to whom we are grateful, that the present canvas could be the picture that belonged to Godefroy.