France, early 19th Century / c. 1800
The Meeting of Orestes and Hermione
The Cleveland Museum of Art catalogs The Meeting of Orestes and Hermione as drawing (France, early 19th Century · c. 1800).
The leg of the table behind Hermione has the form of a siren, a dangerous mythological creature that destroys anyone who hears its song.
A CLOSER LOOK
The museum identifies this drawing as pen and brown and black ink, point of brush and brown and gray wash, with black chalk and graphite, heightened with white gouache, on cream and credits Anne-Louis Girodet de Roucy-Trioson (French, 1767–1824).
The museum's collection notes: When the French painter Jacques-Louis David was approached to work on a new edition of Jean Racine’s plays, he passed the task to his pupil Girodet, who excelled at illustrating literature. This highly refined drawing depicts a scene from Racine’s Andromaque, a complicated story of unrequited love and political treachery. Cléone introduces the love-blind Orestes to Hermione, who exploits his affection to make him do her bidding. Girodet skillfully contrasts Orestes’s eagerness and Hermione’s calculating character. With folded arms, she turns away, as if a statue between the columns of a cool marble interior. Yet Hermione’s sly, backward glanc
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The Cleveland Museum of ArtThe Meeting of Orestes and HermioneOriginal explanation based on the sources above. Images carry their own reuse terms.