Joanny Domer (lyon, 1833 - Id., 1896) The Triumph Of Diane

Joanny DOMER (Lyon, 1833 - id., 1896)
Bozzetto for the ceiling of the Grand Salon of the Rhône Prefecture, The Triumph of Diana
oil on canvas, 98 x 118 cm
1891, (Salon Lyon, 1897)

This oil on canvas by Joanny Domer is a preparatory work for the decoration of the ceiling of the Salon Carnot of the Prefecture of the Rhône (Lyon) entitled The Triumph of the Goddess Diana.
The iconography of the scene is taken from Ovid's Metamorphoses : the goddess Diana, accompanied by her twin brother Apollo, is about to kill the young hunter Actaeon, whom she has transformed into a deer.
The virtuosity that Joanny Domer demonstrates in the execution of the canvas gives all its dynamism to the composition. At the very top we find the god Apollo, adorned on his sun-drenched chariot, accompanied by his horses.
The goddess Diana, on the other hand, is on the left of the composition. We can identify it by its usual attribute: the crescent moon. To the right, we can see poor Actaeon, metamorphosed into a deer, already assailed by one of the goddess's nymphs and ready to be devoured by his own dogs in pursuit.
The work is both poetic and symphonic. Everything contributes to reinforce the dramatic effect and to explain the subject: a fight where light prevails over shadow, good over evil and civilization over the state of nature.
For this preparatory work, Domer drew his inspiration from the painter Eugène Delacroix and learned the lesson of the decoration of the Apollo Gallery of the Louvre Museum entitled Apollo, Conqueror of the Python Snake.
He noted that Joanny Domer has decorated many public and private buildings of the City of Lyon, including:
Hôtel de préfecture du Rhône: Triomphe de Diane. Hôtel de Ville, Salon Henri IV: Emancipation of the Commune of Lyon. Théâtre Bellecour: ceiling. Théâtre des Célestins: ceiling. Opera, foyer ceiling: The Triumph of Apollo, 1886
Born on August 8, 1833, in Lyon, Joanny Domer attended the École des Beaux-Arts de Lyon but was essentially self-taught.
He travelled to Italy and returned to exhibit in Lyon from 1860 and in Paris from 1869. Among his works are Les funérailles de la Vierge (Lyon, 1861); La captivité babylonienne et Faunes, satyres et nymphes des bois en voyage (Lyon, 1864); Bacchanale (Paris, 1869); Polyphemus and Secret (drawings, Paris, 1870); Romeo and Juliet (drawing, Lyon, 1873); Jesters and courtesans ; and Torrent à Bordighera (drawing, Lyon, 1877).
From about 1877 Domer ceased to exhibit his works, concentrating instead on his decorative projects.
He collaborated with the Revue du Lyonnais with a few lithographs and produced etchings, including a Bacchanal after one of his own paintings. His decorative work is considerable. Domer signed his works under the names of J. Domer or Jr Domer.