Sir Frank Short
Orpheus and Eurydice
1889

Name: Orpheus and Eurydice
Brand: Sir Frank Short
Price: 1750 USD
Availability: InStock

About the Item

Orpheus and Eurydice (after George Frederic Watts, R.A., H.R.C.A. 1817 - 1904). The painting is on the right. 1889. Mezzotint. Hardie 54.12 5/8 x 19 1/2 (sheet 17 1/8 x 23 3/ 8). Edition 300. A rich proof printed on Japon paper. Exhibited in 1889 at the Exposition Universelle, Paris, where it was awarded a gold medal. Signed in pencil by Watts, Short, and by the printer, Frederick Goulding. Housed in a dramatic 23 1/4 x 29-inch champagne gold leaf frame. Orpheus' wife, Eurydice, while fleeing from Aristaeus (son of Apollo), ran into a nest of snakes which bit her fatally on her heel. Distraught, Orpheus played such sad songs and sang so mournfully that all the nymphs and gods wept. On their advice, Orpheus traveled to the underworld and by his music softened the hearts of Hades and Persephone. The agreed to allow Eurydice to return with him to earth on one condition: he should walk in front of her and not look back until they both had reached the upper world. In his anxiety, he forgot that both needed to be in the upper world, and he turned to look at her, and she vanished for the second time, but now forever. This is one of Watts's most famous compositions, known in many versions. The picture was exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1869 (the same year as Poynter's Prodigal's Return, lot 29), and seems to have been the first version he completed. Others were shown at the Dudley Gallery in 1872 and the Grosvenor Gallery in 1879, and he continued to paint versions almost until his death.

Creator:

Sir Frank Short (1857 - 1945, British)

Creation Year:

1889

Dimensions:

Height: 23.25 in (59.06 cm)Width: 29 in (73.66 cm)Depth: 1 in (2.54 cm)

Medium:

18k Gold,Mezzotint

Movement & Style:

Victorian

Period:

Late 19th Century