Artwork Page for Paris and Oenone

Details / Information for Paris and Oenone

Paris and Oenone

1791

John Flaxman

(British, 1755–1826)
Culture
England, 18th century
Medium
brush and gray wash with pen and pale gray-black ink with graphite and brown ink
Support
Cream wove paper
Measurements
Sheet: 30.3 x 48.8 cm (11 15/16 x 19 3/16 in.); Secondary Support: 35.1 x 53.6 cm (13 13/16 x 21 1/8 in.)
Credit Line
Purchase from the J. H. Wade Fund 2008.35
Public Domain
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Location
Not on view
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Did You Know?

John Flaxman called his drawings "outlines," referring to their sparse style.

Description

Although he identified himself first and foremost as a sculptor, John Flaxman’s greatest fame and most lasting influence rest with his drawings. Engravings made after his spare designs illustrating classical epics by Homer, Dante, and Hesiod became the most celebrated work in his oeuvre and spread his stylized linearity widely. This highly finished, signed and dated drawing was made while Flaxman was in Rome and needed to supplement his income while trying to obtain commissions for sculpture. Flaxman chose an obscure classical subject: the famous Trojan shepherd, Paris, with his first love, the nymph Oenone. The scene takes place on Mount Ida, in an idyllic time of peace before Paris was called upon to judge the beauty of the goddesses Hera, Athena, and Aphrodite, thus instigating the Trojan War.
A horizontally oriented black ink drawing with gray wash depicts five figures with light skin tones in a landscape. At the center, a nude man wearing a peaked cap leans against a rock, holding a staff. A nude woman stands beside him, hands against his chest. To our left, two women sit beneath a tree, while a nude woman reclines on a ledge to our right. An ox and small animal rest in the foreground.

Paris and Oenone

1791

John Flaxman

(British, 1755–1826)
England, 18th century

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