Venus interceding for Aeneas

Louis Chéron c. 1695

oil on plaster, ceiling of the First State Room

7.31 x 7.67 m

The subject, from Virgil's Aeneid, book 1, lines 216-93, wasworked up in a preliminary sketch which differs substantially fromthe ceiling as executed (Croft Murray, 5(1)). In the sketch thefigures representing the Winds support clouds in the foregroundrather than in the far right on the ceiling. On the finished ceiling,the mythological figures are: above from left to right: Ceres,Proserpine, Mercury and Iris; in the centre: Neptune, Pluto, Jupiterand Juno with Venus and Cupid before them accompanied by the ThreeGraces and Hymen. The Elements are represented by Water and the Winds(lower right). Hercules, Pan, Bacchus and Mars are grouped to thelower left. The dominant note is provided by Jupiter who is draped inred.

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