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| Title | Psyche Rescued by Naiads from Drowning | |
| Original Translation | Psyche abandonne par l'Amour, recueillie et consolee par les nymphes | |
| Collection | Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery | |
| Artist | Attributed to Pierre, Jean Baptiste Marie (French painter and sculptor, 1713-1789) Previously attributed to Taraval, Hugues (French painter, 1729-1785) |
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| Date | 1750 | |
| Description | Cupid fell in love with the mortal, Psyche but later abandoned her. Psyche attempted suicide by drowning but was rescued by naiads or water nymphs. This is one of four mythologies painted by Pierre for Bellevue, Madame de Pompadour's pavilion at Meudon, completed in 1750. He replaced Boucher as Premier Painter to the King after Boucher's death in 1770. |
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| Current Accession Number | 1906P30 | |
| Former Accession Number | P.30´06 | |
| Subject | mythology (Psyche rescued from drowning; Ovid Metamorphoses) | |
| Measurements | 83.8 x 115.5 cm cm (estimate) | |
| Material | oil on canvas | |
| Acquisition Details | Bequeathed by Mrs Jennens 1906. | |
| Provenance | Commissioned for Bellevue, a pavillion built at Meudon (1748 - 1750) for Madame de Pompadour; acquired by her brother, the Marquis de Marigny; Marquis de Marigny et de Menars sale, Paris, 26 March 1782, no. 80 as Jean-Baptiste Marie Pierre, Psyche éplorée après sa curiosité se jette dans un fleuve [...] , bought by Vestris, 680 livres. | |
| Principal Exhibitions | Paris Salon, 1 January 1750, cat. no. 60. | |
| Publications | Jones, C., Madame de Pompadour: Images of a Mistress, National Gallery and Yale University Press, London and New Haven, 2002, no. 110 (did not appear in the exhibition); Sandoz, M., 'Hugues Taraval', Bulletin de la Societé de l'Histoire de l'Art Francais, 1972 as Les sources du Rhin by Taraval, p. 246. | |
| Notes | Attribution made in 1993 by Alistair Laing of the National Trust. Previously attributed to Hugues Taraval as The Source of the Rhine. | |
| Rights Owner | Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery | |
| Author | Dr Patricia Smyth | |