According to the fourteenth book of Ovid’s Metamorphoses, after ordering the river Numicius to wash away all the mortal aspect of Aeneas, Venus anointed him with a divine perfume and touched his mouth with a mixture of ambrosia and nectar, thus transforming him into a god (Miguel Ángel Hernanz Santos, information provided to the Museum in March 2021)

Blondel, who specialised in decorative schemes for buildings, was a notable representative of Neo-classicism in France.