Artwork Page for A Eunuch's Dream

Details / Information for A Eunuch's Dream

A Eunuch's Dream

1874

Jean Lecomte du Nouÿ

(French, 1842–1923)
Culture
France, 19th century
Medium
oil on wood
Measurements
Framed: 54 x 74.5 x 5.5 cm (21 1/4 x 29 5/16 x 2 3/16 in.); Unframed: 39.3 x 65.4 cm (15 1/2 x 25 3/4 in.)
Credit Line
Seventy-fifth anniversary gift of Mrs. Noah L. Butkin 1991.173
Public Domain
You can copy, modify, and distribute this work, all without asking permission. Learn more about CMA's Open Access Initiative.
Location
219 19th Century European
Print
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Did You Know?

Much of Jean Lecomte du Nouÿ's artwork was inspired by travelling to Egypt as a young man.

Description

This painting, inspired by Charles Montesquieu's Persian Letters (published in 1721), depicts a eunuch who wanted to marry a harem slave. He experienced a vision of her while smoking his opium pipe, but her little companion holding a knife dripping with blood reminds us that the eunuch's anatomy precludes the fulfillment of his dream. The outline of a hand next to the signature is a khamsa, a symbol used to ward off evil.
A horizontally oriented oil painting depicts a man with medium-light skin tone reclining on a pile of rugs and pillows on a rooftop holding a pipe almost as long as he is. The pipe extends to the edge of the roof where its white smoke twists to depict a nude woman with gold hair, throwing her arms and holding a clear veil in the air and looking down at the man. Further to the left, a baby holds a knife as big as itself with a bloodied tip. Behind them extends a city landscape featuring squared, domed buildings with minarets, which are slender towers.

A Eunuch's Dream

1874

Jean Lecomte du Nouÿ

(French, 1842–1923)
France, 19th century

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