Zephyre and Flore (c. 1776): Art, History and Details

Zephyre and Flore (c. 1776) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection. The museum's creator attribution is Jean François Janinet (French, 1752–1814); Antoine Coypel (French, 1661–1722).

The work and its context

The museum's open-access catalogue describes the work:

Following the method of Bonnet, his mentor and colleague, Janinet created luxurious sets of color prints with printed gold frames and passed them off as foreign imports. Because the printmakers’ unauthorized use of gold leaf was eventually caught, only a limited number of gilded examples were produced. Impressions of these prints are scarce today, as many were ruined after being displayed in homes. This allegory of spring depicts Zephyre, the classical personification of the west wind, with his lover Flore, goddess of flowers

Object facts

• Title: Zephyre and Flore
• Date: c. 1776
• Creator attribution: Jean François Janinet (French, 1752–1814); Antoine Coypel (French, 1661–1722)
• Culture: France
• Type: Print
• Technique: Color wash-manner etching and engraving with applied gold leaf
• Dimensions: Sheet: 33.3 x 26.5 cm (13 1/8 x 10 7/16 in.)
• Collection: PR - Lavis manner
• Department: Prints
• Accession number: 1987.91

Collection credit

Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Robert D. Milne in memory of Leona E. Prasse

Further reading listed by the museum

• Wehn, James. “The 18th-Century Selfie: A new exhibition looks at the role of prints and drawings in pre- and post-revolutionary France.” Cleveland Art: Cleveland Museum of Art Members Magazine 56, no. 4 (July/August 2016): 8-9.

View the collection record

See the museum's photographs and full catalogue entry. Catalogue text is reproduced from the Cleveland Museum of Art's open-access data, with HTML formatting removed. This object and its supplied image are designated CC0.