1766
From the collection of Cleveland Museum of Art
The Triumph of Neptune is a 1766 by Charles-Joseph Natoire, a Romanticism work, depicting Chariot, held at Cleveland Museum of Art.
You see Neptune riding a chariot pulled by sea horses, waves crashing around him, gods and dolphins swimming nearby. This painting copies a ceiling fresco in Italy. The artist never saw the original—he worked from a sketch. Look at the dark clouds where two faces blow wind. That tiny detail shows Neptune’s power over the sea. For more like this, check out the technique called *chiaroscuro*.
Natoire produced this drawing based on a fresco by Guillaume Courtois, known as Il Borgognone (1628–1679), that decorates a vaulted ceiling in the Palazzo Dorio-Pamphili in Valmontone. Carrying his trident, Neptune skims the ocean waves in a chariot attended by the gods Nereus and Oceanus, his son, Triton, and a dolphin. Able to raise tempests and calm the sea, Neptune gestures toward darkened clouds where two blowing faces personify the winds. Natoire’s fluid brushstrokes and vibrant use of color exemplify the characteristic sensuality of his watercolors.
Read the full account in the museum source.
Charles-Joseph Natoire (3 March 1700 – 23 August 1777) was a French painter in the Rococo manner, a pupil of François Lemoyne and director of the French Academy in Rome, 1751–1775.
See the richer artist page
