Louis de SILVESTRE le Jeune (Sceaux, 1675 - Paris, 1760) Angelica and Medor and Cupid and Psyche Pair of oil paintings Angélique and Médor and Cupid and Psyché, pair of canvas, by L. de Silvestre the Younger 37.80 x 54.33 in. 96 x 138 cm Provenance: Anonymous sale; Paris, Hôtel Drouot, Me Aguttes, 19 December 2007, no. 24 (as attributed to Noël-Nicolas Coypel); Acquired at this sale by the current owners Admitted to the Académie in 1703, Louis de Silvestre made a name for himself with a series of "collection paintings" depicting mythological scenes that were engraved. He pursued his career at the Saxon court of Augustus II, where in addition to court portraits and large-scale royal decorations, he produced a number of easel paintings, mainly mythological, depicting nudity in large landscapes influenced by the art of his master Bon de Boullogne. Previously attributed to Noël-Nicolas Coypel, François Marandet attributed these two paintings to Louis de Silvestre. He compared them to the mythological series preserved at Wilanow Castle in Poland and dated them to around 1725. He notes the artist's characteristics in "this form of suavity" inherited from Bon de Boullogne, the sculptural volume of the figures, and the care given to the landscape punctuated by large tortuous trunks. Another version, with variations, of Angélique et Médor is in the Gemäldegalerie Alte Meister in Dresden (inv. no. 98/04), (fig. 1). We would like to thank François Marandet for kindly confirming the authenticity of these paintings from photographs in a letter dated 5 June 2025. Louis de SILVESTRE le Jeune (Sceaux, 1675 - Paris, 1760) 96 x 138 cm