Hercules and Dejanira, a sketch - Samuel MASSÉ (Tours 1672–1753 Paris)

Samuel MASSÉ (Tours 1672–1753 Paris) Hercules and Dejanira, a sketch Oil on paper laid down on canvas, 35.5 x 46.5 cm


The artist

Samuel Massé's work, recently rediscovered, had been forgotten since the 18th century. The artist's work remains heavily influenced by Noël and Noël-Nicolas Coypel. A student at the Royal Academy between 1690 and 1698, Massé was accepted in 1701, the year in which he became godfather to the daughter of Charles Perrault, the famous architect of the Louvre colonnade, and was then accepted as a history painter in 1705. In 1725, he took part in the youth exhibitions, where he presented two subjects from Cupid and Psyche. Massé then had the honour, in 1727, of participating in the famous competition between the twelve best history painters of the Royal Academy, where he presented Juno ordering Aeolus to destroy Aeneas' fleet (Musée des Beaux-Arts de Nancy). Participating in the Academy's Salons from 1737 to 1745, he preferred to illustrate mythology rather than Holy History.

Samuel Massé's paintings are rare, with around thirty works already identified; nine of which are kept in museums, churches or institutions: a pair in Warsaw, another pair at the Musée des Beaux-Arts in Bordeaux, an oval at the Musée des Beaux-Arts in Caen, another at the Musée des Beaux-Arts in Nancy, one at the church in Toury (Eure-et-Loire), one painting recently added to the collection of the Musée du Luxembourg and a final one at the École Nationale Supérieure des Beaux-Arts in Paris.
The artist, who was one of the least known of his generation, was nonetheless one of the best. His work is dominated by themes of seduction and episodes celebrating the loves of the gods.

The work

Our beautifully crafted work, the first identified sketch, is a fine example of Samuel Massé's production. There is a beautiful repentance depicting two legs in the centre and below the vegetation. The composition is typical of the artist's work, as seen in a series of three unlocated paintings published by François Marandet*.


* Notes
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François Marandet, ‘Nouvelles additions au corpus de Samuel Massé (1672-1753)’, Les cahiers du musée des Beaux-Arts de Caen et des Amis des musées de Basse-Normandie, no. 10, Caen: 2012, pp. 16-21.