Tenderness, passion and protectiveness permeate the ethereally sensual and romantic Pierre-Auguste Cot classic, “The Storm.” Cot (1837 – 1883) was commissioned to paint the work by Catharine Lorrilard Wolfe, the cousin of one of his primary patrons, John Wolfe. Exhibited at the Paris Salon in 1880, the artwork received rave reviews. Critics have speculated that the piece was based on the Greek romance Daphnis and Chloe by Longus or Paul et Virginie by Bernardin de Saint-Pierre. Cot’s most popular work, “The Storm” is now displayed at New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art. The museum sells $70,000 of reproductions of the painting every year.

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