Boreas Abducting Oreithyia
c. 1755–1760
red chalk
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In the collection of Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland · as of July 2026
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FROM THE CLEVELAND MUSEUM OF ART’S CATALOG
Pierre took the subject of this drawing from the celebrated work the Metamorphoses by the Roman poet Ovid (43 bc-ad 17), which recounts the loves of the gods and goddesses of antiquity. Oreithyia, daughter of Erectheus, king of Athens, so inspired the passion of the god of the north wind, Boreas, that he descended to the earth to kidnap her. Although this subject was not especially common, Ovid was a favorite source for painters during the 1700s. Pierre was influenced here by a tapestry designed by François Boucher showing the same scene.
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