The Apotheosis of Hercules

Ceiling of the Great Hall

Louis Chéron c. 1705-7

oil on plaster, 7.53 x 15.44 m

Hercules is presented to Hebe by the Three Graces in the presenceof Jupiter, Juno, Neptune and Pluto, Mercury, Fame, Bacchus, Venusand Mars. prosperine scatters flowers above. Hercules has alightedfrom his borrowed chariot, whilst Appollo, representing Day, in hisQuadriga, has chased away his sister Diana in her horse-drawnchariot. She is preceded by Hesperus, the Evening Star, and Nyx, theNight, with dark wings outspread. To one side the kingdom of sleep isrepresented by Hyphos, Morpheus and the somnolent Lethe (Ovid,Metamorphoses, book xi, lines 589-632). Opposite, sits Luna with herown entourage. Unfortunately much of the effect is lost by the poorstate of the ceiling at present.

The Executors' Accounts reveal that scaffolding was put up in theGreat Hall in June 1705 and again in May and June 1706. Chéronwas working at Boughton from March to May 1707 and it is thereforelikely that the promissory note from Ralph Montagu for £115which is dated August 1707, refers to this - apparently his lastrecorded commission for Montagu.

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