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Details / Information for Aurora and Cephalus

Aurora and Cephalus

c.1810
(French, 1767–1824)
France, 19th century
oil on canvas
Framed: 34.9 x 29.9 x 7 cm (13 3/4 x 11 3/4 x 2 3/4 in.); Unframed: 22.8 x 16.8 cm (9 x 6 5/8 in.)
Gift of the Painting and Drawing Society of The Cleveland Museum of Art 2002.101
Location: 202 French Neoclassical Decorative Arts
Public Domain
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Did You Know?

This myth subverts typical gender dynamics: usually a man captures a woman, but in this story the trope reversed.

Description

The goddess of the dawn, Aurora, fell in love with the shepherd Cephalus. She eventually seized him at daybreak, bringing him to the heavens while he slept—the scene Girodet has painted here. Later, missing his wife, Procris, Cephalus begs to return. Aurora agrees, giving him a magic spear that kills every target, including his wife, when he mistakes her for an animal in the brush.

Aurora and Cephalus

c.1810

Anne-Louis Girodet de Roucy-Trioson

(French, 1767–1824)
France, 19th century

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