When the painting Narcissus was auctioned at the beginning of 2015 in New York, the Groeninge Museum immediately seized the opportunity to strengthen its important collection of Neo-Classical works. The painting by Joseph Denis Odevaere (1775-1830) depicts the life-sized, naked figure of Narcissus, who is admiring himself in the reflection of the water. The presentation is based on the ‘Metamorphoses’ of Ovid, one of the most important and popular mythological works in Latin literature. The story tells about the metamorphosis of Narcissus, a strikingly handsome young hunter, who—after he falls in love with his own reflection—ultimately dies and is transformed into a yellow flower, the Narcissus. Odevaere’s figure responds to the Neo-Classical ideal of beauty. The canvas was one of the five works that he exhibited in 1820 at the Salon of Ghent.
In the museum hall where the painting is hanging, there is also now to be seen a masterpiece by François-Joseph Navez (1787-1869), the most important Neo-Classicist in Belgium. It is on loan. The canvas is a group portrait of Théodore Joseph Jonet and his two daughters. Probably the patron had this work done just before the marriage of his oldest daughter Juliette to the physician Joseph Emile Lequime. This painting forms a nice ensemble with the other portraits of Neo-Classicists from Bruges in the Groeninge Museum.
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