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The subject, Diana and Endymion, was a popular one. The story: Endymion, sent to sleep for ever by the command of Jupiter, in return for being granted perpetual youth, was visited nightly by the goddess Diana. The beautiful youth, Endymion, who fell into an eternal sleep, has captured the imagination of poets and artists as a symbol of the timelessness of beauty that is 'a joy forever'.
This early masterpiece by Fragonard demonstrates his brilliant command - even at the beginning of his career - of the Rococo pictorial idiom that was in ascendancy in the 1750s and that he absorbed through his close relationship with François Boucher. With its pendant Aurora (private collection) Diana and Endymion was intended as interior decorations, undoubtedly meant to be installed into the paneling of overdoors.
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