Lot number 3687 - Auction 155
POLYPHEM ÜBERRASCHT ACIS UND GALATEA

JEAN-FRANÇOIS DE TROY OR WORKSHOP 27 January 1679 Paris - 26 January 1752 Rome POLYPHEMUS SURPRISING ACIS AND GALATEA Oil on canvas (old relined). 92 x 79 cm (F. 122 x 100.5 cm). Part. min. old rest., part. min. old retouching, min. dam. Frame. The painting takes up an episode from Ovid's Metamorphoses (Book XIII) and addresses the tragic love story of the sea nymph Galatea, her beloved Acis, and the jealous Cyclops Polyphemus. While Galatea and Acis share an idyllic bond marked by tenderness, their happiness is threatened by the sudden appearance of Polyphemus, whose unrestrained passion escalates into deadly violence in the ancient narrative. Jean-François de Troy does not focus on the act of destruction itself, but rather on the psychologically charged moment of discovery. The lovers appear in idealised, elegant corporeality, embedded in an Arcadian landscape, while Polyphemus emerges as a dark, massive presence from the pictorial space, functioning less as an individual figure than as a personified force of nature. The deliberate contrast between grace and menace forms the central tension of the composition. Stylistically, the work combines Baroque dramatization with the French elegance characteristic of de Troy. Flowing lines, a harmoniously balanced palette, and a carefully modulated range of emotions lend the mythological subject a refined and sensitive tone. In contrast to the heroic and pathos-laden representations of Italian tradition, the emphasis here lies not on the monumental event but on the emotional shift from amorous idyll to impending catastrophe. The painting thus stands as an exemplary work of early 18TH-century French mythological painting, in which classical themes are interpreted less as moral exempla and more through psychological nuance and aesthetic refinement. (In collaboration with: OpenAI, ChatGPT, 1 February 2026)