Morpheus and Iris

Guerin finished this in 1811, the year before Napoleon marched on Russia. One of the people who wanted it was a Russian, Prince Nikolai Yusupov, who ordered a version for his palace at Arkhangelskoye outside Moscow. The subject comes from Ovid. Iris, the rainbow messenger of the gods, glides down on a bank of cloud to the cave of Morpheus, the god of sleep, who lies heavy and half-waking among his dreams. Guerin was a leading name in the cool, polished Neoclassical style then taught in Paris, and several painters who would define the next generation, among them Gericault and Delacroix, passed through his studio.