Philemon and Baucis

The museum acquired the painting as the work of an unknown artist, but the restoration process revealed the signature of Russian romanticist Orest Kiprensky. As a result of the research, it was determined that the composition "Philemon and Baucis" was painted by the future artist while he was studying at the Imperial Academy of Arts and received a small gold medal for it. During the 19th century this artwork belonged in the private collection of the collector Pavel Svinyin, but later the location of the work was unknown. The story depicted in the painting, borrowed from Ovid's poem "Metamorphoses", is of Jupiter and Mercury, who roam Phrygia as pilgrims. As night approaches, the Gods ask people for shelter, but receive refusal everywhere. Only the hospitable Philemon and his wife Baucis welcome the strangers in their home. Orest Kiprensky's work depicts the moment when Jupiter and Mercury appear to the Phrygians in their true form. The wrath of the Gods is great, but their gratitude is great as well: the village with all its inhabitants is over-flooded, but the hut of Philemon and Baucis turns into the temple of Jupiter, and both elders become priests of this temple. The Gods also fulfill the desire of Philemon and Baucis to stay together forever: after death, they turn into an oak and a linden tree that grows from the same stem.