After Pierre Subleyras, 'A Male Académie ('The Barque of Charon')', about 1770

This painting is a copy after Pierre Subleyras’s Charon ferrying the Souls of the Dead over the River Styx (Louvre, Paris), which was probably painted around 1735 and certainly before 1746, as part of the composition can be seen in his painting made that year of his studio (Akademie der Bildenden Kunst, Vienna). The date of this copy is unknown, but it must have been made before the early nineteenth century when the canvas was lined. However, it probably dates from several decades earlier.

In Greek mythology and literature, Charon was the boatman of the underworld who ferried the souls of the dead across the River Styx to Hades. The shrouded figures at the feet of the figure here are the spirits of the dead. Subleyras’s depiction of Charon is unusual, as he is shown as a relatively young man, who is also nude, unlike literary descriptions of him. For example, he is described in Virgil’s Aeneid as having an unkempt beard and squalid clothes.

Although Charon’s pose has been compared to Guido Reni’s Samson (Pinacoteca Nazionale, Bologna) and to the standing male figure in Giambologna’s sculpture The Rape of the Sabine Women (Loggia dei Lanzi, Florence), it owes more to the tradition of the académie. This was the academic study of the male nude in various poses often with one foot or knee resting on a ledge and the opposite arm raised, typically holding a pole or rope for support. Subleyras had studied at the French Academy in Rome, where students were encouraged to draw from the male nude and classical sculptures and from draped and half-draped figures. Both Subleyras’s painting and this copy are essentially académies presented as subjects from classical literature. This copy is significantly darker than Subleyras’s painting and the distant fires of Hades less distinct, as the canvas is covered by yellowed varnish.

The National Gallery has two académies in its collection – An Académie, especially, shares some similarities with this picture.