Noël-Nicolas COYPEL (1690–1734) - Lot 115

Lot n° 115
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10000 - 15000 EUR
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Noël-Nicolas COYPEL (1690–1734) - Lot 115
Noël-Nicolas COYPEL (1690–1734) The Wrath of Neptune (Quos Ego) CANVAS Height: 73.5 cm Width: 91.5 cm Minor losses Provenance: Mentioned in the inventory report following the artist’s death, dated December 14, 1734, (published by J. Guiffrey, *Scellés et inventaires d’artistes français*, Paris, 1884, pp. 308–317); Paris, Anonymous Sale, December 1768, no. 58 (120 livres). Louis Arride Collection (1936–2026), painter of the Toulon School Bibliography: Jérôme Delaplanche, Noël-Nicolas Coypel, 1690–1734, Paris, Arthena, 2004, p. 112, no. P64 (painting lost). The subject of our painting is taken from Virgil’s *Aeneid* (Book I, line 135), the famous “Quos Ego,” a threat abruptly cut short, leaving it to the reader to imagine the sentence (aposope): Neptune, god of the seas, is angry with the winds, which Juno has unleashed to stir up a storm and harass the Trojan hero Aeneas. He must calm these rebellious winds: (Neptune) summons (the winds) Eurus and Zephyr to him and says to them: “Do you draw such great confidence from your lineage? Now, without my command, you have the audacity, O winds, to shake heaven and earth, and to stir up such masses? I will…! But it is better to calm the churning waves.” Noël Nicolas Coypel revisits, in a Rococo style, the subject of Rubens’s famous painting, now housed at the Gemäldegalerie Alte Meister in Dresden, but formerly part of the Lériget de La Faye collection in Paris during the 18th century. This collector and dealer belonged to our artist’s social circle. Rubens’s *Quos Ego* was the most highly valued piece in his inventory, at 4,500 livres in 1731. Our painter excels at depicting the turbulence of the waves, as evidenced by his *The Abduction of Europa* (Philadelphia Museum of Art, 1727), *Saint Francis of Paola and His Companions Crossing the Strait of Messina on His Cloak* (Lyon, Primatial Church of Saint John), and several mythological and seascape subjects (*Orion*, Versailles, City Hall, 1727). We thank Jérôme Delaplanche for confirming the attribution through a visual examination on September 15, 2026. We thank François Marandet for confirming the attribution via email on September 15, 2026. Appraiser: Cabinet Turquin - Stéphane Pinta Lot viewable by appointment only at the appraiser’s office
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