Zeuxis Choosing Models from the Beautiful Women of Croton

The Salon of 1789 opened at the Louvre in late August, six weeks after the fall of the Bastille, and this huge canvas, painted for Louis XVI, was on show. Its story comes from the Roman writer Cicero. The people of Croton, in southern Italy, asked the Greek painter Zeuxis for an image of Helen of Troy. Since no single woman could match her beauty, he chose five of the town's loveliest girls and took the best from each. Vincent seats the painter in a red cloak, one hand raised towards the models. One girl stands in only a thin veil, and another, in white, hides her face against an older woman. On the blank canvas behind, a first sketch is just visible. Vincent showed the picture again at the Salon of 1791, and a smaller version from that year is at Stanford University in California.