Beschrijving
From the ‘Tafereel of beschryving van den prachtigen tempel der zang-godinnen…’, also known as ‘Le Temple des Muses’ published in Amsterdam in 1733, containing histories drawn from Greek mythology, written by A.de la Barre de Beaumarchais with plates by Bernard Picart. The plates are all finely engraved and are composed with a central part dedicated to the illustration of the story and a larger one, framing the previous, inhabited with details inspired to the central plate. For the whole book see Booknr. 50936 [XVII, p. 41-42] Lycaon was a king of Arcadia. As depicted in the scene Lycaon tested Zeus by serving him the roasted flesh of a guest in order to see whether the god was truly omniscient. In return for these gruesome deeds Zeus turned Lycaon into a wolf and killed all his sons with lightning bolts. In the background in fact are two young men trying to escape a fire, whereas in the foreground Zeus, seated at the table of Lycaon has already turned the protagonist into a wolf. Signed on the lower left corner: ‘B. Picart sculp. dir.’ Lettered in four languages on the bottom: ‘LYCAON TRANSFORMÉ EN LOUP / Lycaon metamorphosed into a Wolf. / Lycaon in ein Wolf verändert./ Lycaon in een Wolf verandert’. On the bottom of the engraved frame on the left: ‘B. Picart del. 1731’
