French School, second half of the 17th century

Reclining on what appears to be a large scallop shell pushed by a triton, the sea nymph Thetis, mother of the Greek hero Achilles, is depicted here alongside Hephaestus, god of blacksmiths, surmounted by putti. According to Homer's Iliad, prior to Achilles joining the Trojan War, Thetis implored Hephaestus to forge an armour for her son to wear in battle, specifically a shield, a breastplate and a helmet, depicted here at the god's feet. It has been suggested this work could also depict Venus receiving the arms of Aeneas from Haephestus; however, the attributes of the reclining female figure in the foreground are closer to those of a sea nymph than to those of the goddess of love. 

The attribution of this mythological scene remains elusive. Offered for sale in 1990 and 1998 as attributed to Michel II Corneille (1642–1708), it is clearly painted by a different hand, now that a significant number of works by the artist have resurfaced to allow a classification of his style. An attribution to Charles Errard (c. 1601–1689), master of Noël Coypel (1628–1707), has been suggested by Francois Marandet, who dates the work to the 1640s, prior to Michel II Corneille's birth. He compares it to Rinaldo's Departure from Armida (Museum of the Pays de Hanau), notably in the stiff musculature of the figures and the ornamentation of the armour.¹ The decorative appeal and classicizing elements of the work have also been linked by Alaistair Laing to artists employed in the Grand Trianon at Versailles in the last decades of the 17th century, possibly to the Parisian painter François–Alexandre Verdier (1651–1730). 



¹ Inv. no. MBPH_1934.1.2; oil on canvas; 243 x 338 cm.; https://webmuseo.com/ws/musees-parc-vosges-nord/app/collection/record/30450?vc=ePkH4LF7lZUxDsMwCEWvgnKBAnYAH6hDlyiq2vv3JVKiSJk6oG-e7D8YY-7jaTomiNv0zwN53O_oUoezP6KpRIakb1qSo0m0QZSUGrnDYclaXXJmT6LRJTqsTGJsCtOEzwRe8LTEA15dTDswSAwDDw770Zzr87V8vu_9ozxr8gMsQEh2