Abraham Louis Rodolphe DUCROS (1748-1810) Abraham Louis Rodolphe Ducros (1748-1810) Paris and Helen (Venus and Amor escort Paris to bed chamber of Helen), 1800 Indistinctly signed and dated ‘A (?) DUCR. F. AT. 1800’ (on the footrest between the bed and the table) Oil on canvas, relined 63 x 48 cm Private Collection, Switzerland acquired at Fischer auction Luzern, 2007, lot 1066 Here Ducros depicts a scene from Homer’s Illiad, of the love story between Helen and Paris that led to the Trojan War. The interior and furniture of the painting are inspired by the mural paintings of Pompeii. The figure of Helen was based on a marble sculpture located where the artist worked in Rome (Museo Pio- Clementino, Galleria delle Statue con Cleopatra), and it is depicted in several graphic works by the artist. (L. Meyer, Archiv für Kunstgeschichte, München, 11. April 2007) The Swiss painter Ducros created this painting in 1800 in Rome, where he lived and worked from the 1770s until 1805, before he moved to his home town and died in Lausanne in 1810. The artist was mainly known for his watercolours. There are only eight known oil paintings by Ducros (Ludwig Meyer, Archiv für Kunstge- schichte, München, 11. April 2007), and two of them were presented to Grand Duke Paul I (1754-1801) and his wife Grand Duchess Maria Feo- dorovna. Currently these paintings are in the collection of the Pavlovsk Palace in St Petersburg.