- 
Sappho was a Greek poet who lived around 600BC.
She wrote about love, yearning and reflection,
often dedicating her poems to the female pupils
who studied with her on the island of Lesbos.
Many stories are told about her.
Mengin has chosen to paint one
that says she threw herself into the sea
because of unrequited love for a young man:
(Still holding in that fearful leap
By her loved lyre) into the deep,
And dying, quenched the fatal fire
At once, of both her heart and lyre
(Thomas Moore, Evenings in Greece, 1826)
Sappho was a Greek poet who lived around 600BC.
She wrote about love, yearning and reflection,
often dedicating her poems to the female pupils
who studied with her on the island of Lesbos.
Many stories are told about her.
Mengin has chosen to paint one
that says she threw herself into the sea
because of unrequited love for a young man:
(Still holding in that fearful leap
By her loved lyre) into the deep,
And dying, quenched the fatal fire
At once, of both her heart and lyre
(Thomas Moore, Evenings in Greece, 1826)
Charles August Mengin (5 July 1853 - 3 April 1933), was a French painter of the Academic art movement.
The painting has an intense sexual charge
intended to appeal to male viewers
visiting the officially endorsed Paris Salon exhibition.
Its eroticism was legitimised for them
by the meticulous finish of fine brushstrokes
and the scholarly reference to Classical history.
He was born in Paris, France, and was educated by Gecker and Alexandre Cabanel. Mengin first exhibited at the Paris Salon in 1876. He is known for his painting of Sappho, now in the collection of the Manchester Art Gallery. He died in Paris.
The painting has an intense sexual charge
intended to appeal to male viewers
visiting the officially endorsed Paris Salon exhibition.
Its eroticism was legitimised for them
by the meticulous finish of fine brushstrokes
and the scholarly reference to Classical history.
No comments:
Post a Comment