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Louis-Leopold Boilly
The Electric Spark, ca 1791
Louis-Leopold Boilly's fame rests on a series of small-scale scenes of Parisian life. Painted with meticulous detail and an enamel-finish, they are sometimes, as here, imbued with a slightly erotic flavor.
In this allegory to courtship, Boilly combines with great originality both the alchemists' search for the elixir of life and the newly invented electric generator. The latter has been connected to a statue of Cupid, whose arrow the girl touches with some trepidation. The shock she is about to receive will complete Cupid's mission. In this slyly humorous caprice, Boilly reveals the Romantic era's fascination with scientific phenomena. |