Akis i Galatea: An 18th-Century Engraving by Beauvarlet at Royal Łazienki Museum

This artwork, 'Akis i Galatea,' is an aquatint and copperplate engraving created by Jacques-Firmin Beauvarlet after Luca Giordano between 1761 and 1762. It depicts the mythological love story of the sea nymph Galatea and the shepherd Akis, a scene rich in classical narrative and artistic interpretation.

The artwork 'Akis i Galatea' is a significant engraving produced by the French engraver Jacques-Firmin Beauvarlet between 1761 and 1762, based on a painting by Luca Giordano. This piece, along with others like 'The Judgment of Paris,' 'The Rape of the Sabine Women,' and 'The Rape of Europa,' was created as competition works that led to Beauvarlet's acceptance into the Royal Academy of Painting and Sculpture in Paris in 1762. These prints adorned the apartments on the first floor of the White Pavilion in the Royal Łazienki Park in Warsaw. The subject is drawn from classical mythology, specifically the love between the nereid Galatea and the mortal shepherd Akis, and the tragic intervention of the cyclops Polyphemus. The narrative, as told by Ovid, involves Polyphemus's jealous rage leading to Akis's death, after which Galatea transforms her lover into a river. The engraving faithfully reproduces Giordano's composition in reverse, showing Galatea on a seashell, supported by tritons and sirens, with the transformed Akis emerging from the rock.