Orpheus Leading Eurydice from the Underworld is a painting done by Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot. Although dealing with Greek mythology, in this case, the myth concerning Orpheus and Eurydice, Corot painted it in the year of 1861 in France. This is where Corot lived for almost the entirety of his lifetime from 1795 to 1875. It is an oil painting done on canvas with the canvas being 44 ⅜ X 54 ¾ inches in dimensions. (Arts of Europe). The Museum of Fine Arts in Houston, Texas purchased the painting using the funds provided by the Agnes Cullen Arnold Endowment Fund, created when "Agnes Cullen Arnold Endowment died in 1969," to "honor her love of painting and sculpture and to acquire masterworks for the museum in perpetuity." (Kirkland) It is now
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In this myth, Eurydice is a Dryad who Orpheus falls madly in love with and marries. Unfortunately, according to the myth told by Havlice (1982), "as the new bride wandered through a field of grass she was bitten by a serpent and died instantly." (World Painting Index Vol. 1). When Orpheus heard the news, his "grief was overwhelming," and, "He could not endure it." (Woodlief). As a result, Orpheus decides to voyage into the Underworld and "beg Persephone for his wife's return." (World Painting Index Vol. 1). Orpheus picks up his lyre and begins to sing and play for Persephone expressing his undying love for Eurydice and through his song did he manage to convince, "Only that you will lend, not give, her to me. She shall be yours when her years' span is full" …show more content…
In his lifetime, he had visited Switzerland, London, and Italy three times. It was there in Italy, where he became a constituent of a circle of painters, including Théodore Caruelle d'Aligny, Édouard Bertin, and François Antoine Léon Fleury (Waters) These were all landscape painters that influenced Corot's style in his own landscape paintings making him a more successful artist. His success is articulated by his, "painted scenes with which his audience was most familiar with, " and " simple they may seem, but they are really simple only because his genius was in harmony with them" (Waters). As a result, his landscapes are softer than the traditional classical style which leads various historians into thinking he is "precursor of Impressionism, the inventor of sunlit landscapes untroubled by anecdote or meaningful incident" (Mark Harden's Artchive). Audiences can distinguish this softer semblance of art in Orpheus Leading Eurydice from the Underworld, through the background of the painting which details the underworld and shows the layers of the landscapes and bestows upon us, the audience, a perspective by the details of the trees and bushes in the front. In order to further emphasize the location and environment, Corot displays the other spirits in the Underworld roaming about with the preeminent light focal point in Orpheus and Eurydice. This painting displays all of these techniques
In this myth, Eurydice is a Dryad who Orpheus falls madly in love with and marries. Unfortunately, according to the myth told by Havlice (1982), "as the new bride wandered through a field of grass she was bitten by a serpent and died instantly." (World Painting Index Vol. 1). When Orpheus heard the news, his "grief was overwhelming," and, "He could not endure it." (Woodlief). As a result, Orpheus decides to voyage into the Underworld and "beg Persephone for his wife's return." (World Painting Index Vol. 1). Orpheus picks up his lyre and begins to sing and play for Persephone expressing his undying love for Eurydice and through his song did he manage to convince, "Only that you will lend, not give, her to me. She shall be yours when her years' span is full" …show more content…
In his lifetime, he had visited Switzerland, London, and Italy three times. It was there in Italy, where he became a constituent of a circle of painters, including Théodore Caruelle d'Aligny, Édouard Bertin, and François Antoine Léon Fleury (Waters) These were all landscape painters that influenced Corot's style in his own landscape paintings making him a more successful artist. His success is articulated by his, "painted scenes with which his audience was most familiar with, " and " simple they may seem, but they are really simple only because his genius was in harmony with them" (Waters). As a result, his landscapes are softer than the traditional classical style which leads various historians into thinking he is "precursor of Impressionism, the inventor of sunlit landscapes untroubled by anecdote or meaningful incident" (Mark Harden's Artchive). Audiences can distinguish this softer semblance of art in Orpheus Leading Eurydice from the Underworld, through the background of the painting which details the underworld and shows the layers of the landscapes and bestows upon us, the audience, a perspective by the details of the trees and bushes in the front. In order to further emphasize the location and environment, Corot displays the other spirits in the Underworld roaming about with the preeminent light focal point in Orpheus and Eurydice. This painting displays all of these techniques