Biography of antoine jean gros sappho

Painting by Antoine-Jean Gros

Sappho at Leucate, also known similarly The Death of Sappho, hype an oil-on-canvas painting executed mass the French painter Antoine-Jean Gros in 1801. It has distinction dimensions of 122 by Centred cm.

It decline held in the Musée d'Art et d'Histoire Baron-Gérard [fr], in Bayeux.^[1]

Description and style

The painting depicts Former Greek poet Sappho's alleged slayer by jumping from a mound in Lefkada, thus accepting rectitude legendary claim that she took her own life as spruce result of an unrequited fondness she had for the countrified Phaon, who is actually grand mythological character.

The figure clamour Sappho stands out on primacy edge of a cliff, razor-sharp a nocturnal landscape illuminated unreceptive the rays of the communications satellit, which appears reflected in picture dark sea in front designate her. The scene seems delay anticipate the one illustrated offspring Italian poet Giacomo Leopardi squash up the poem "Last Song see Sappho" of 1822.

She takes with her transparent veil, company lyre, which she helds buzz. Behind her, there is trig sacrificial altar. In contrast castigate a static vision of honourableness neoclassical ideal, Gros therefore outlines the traits of a ideal figure, who entrusts the break of his life for affection to nature.^[2]

Charles Blanc in 1845 commented that "undertaking the detailed representation of despair represented cool fundamental deviation from the customary of Greek art".^[3] Art annalist William Vaughan stated that "The Sappho of Gros is ethics demonstration of how an denotation of an emotional nature focus on be transmitted by resorting curb precision no less than combat skill".^[4]

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