Ganymedes ontvoerd 1758

Jean-Charles François created this print, Ganymedes ontvoerd, using etching in the mid-18th century. It shows a scene derived from classical mythology, where Ganymede is abducted by Jupiter in the form of an eagle. The image participates in a long tradition of idealizing the male nude, dating back to ancient Greece. It’s no accident that the image was made in France, which, during the 1700s, was a center of new thinking about art. In this period, the Royal Academy of Painting and Sculpture taught young artists that the most elevated subject matter was history painting, in which they depicted scenes from mythology and the Bible. François created this print after a painting by François Boucher, the director of the Academy. The print therefore reproduces and reinforces the ideas of the French Academy. To learn more about how the Academy promoted certain ideas about beauty, you could read its published lectures, which are available in libraries across the world.