040

  • Hebe

  • Attributed to mid-18th century
  • Artist unknown
  • Oil on canvas
  • 38.3 x 32.9 cm., 15-1/16 x 13"
  • Catherine Carter Goebel, Paul A. Anderson Chair in the Arts Purchase, Paul A. Anderson Art History Collection, Augustana College 2004.10

Essay by Erin Reeverts, Class of 2008

In the eighteenth century, French art evolved through various styles to gradually meet new demands. Painters began to depict the elitist pleasures found within the sumptuous lifestyle of the French aristocrats during this period. The Rococo style, in fact, was based upon the priorities of royalty and the aristocratic class in France, molded by eighteenth-century feminine taste and influence.

Hebe is a French Rococo painting created within this context. In reaction to the previous Baroque style, Rococo taste shifted from masculine pieces based on the past, to lighter subjects that were tasteful to the eighteenth-century female eye. In this particular painting, the female subject is portrayed as the beautiful Hebe, the mythological goddess of youth and the cupbearer to the gods (Reid 490). Although the identity of the artist remains unknown, it is most likely based on Jean-Marc Nattier's Madame de Caumartin as Hebe from 1753, although the female sitter is different. Similar to Nattier's piece, the woman holds a pitcher and cup in her hands in order to serve the gods. The vessel's form resembles, and was probably inspired by, the ancient cups that were unearthed at the excavations of the lost Roman city of Pompeii, rediscovered in the early eighteenth century after long being buried beneath the erupted rubble of Mt. Vesuvius. Hebe was the daughter of Jupiter and Juno, the king and queen of the gods, and was said to have married the great Hercules when he ascended to Mount Olympus. The bird flying through the pastel sky is either Jupiter's attribute or the personification of the god himself, disguised as an eagle.

This painting carefully balances its dual purpose of depicting an actual portrait of a Rococo woman and illustrating a classical goddess. The pastel colors of light pinks and blues, representing delicacy and feminine taste, are typical of the Rococo style. Attention is drawn to Hebe's face through minute detail and brilliant lighting. Rather than showing her rank or position, the artist concentrated more on the subject's expression, gesture and individual personality, inviting the viewer to consider her thoughts.