DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.841#0097
72 DESCRIPTION OF
The subject seems to have been taken
from the story of Theseus, at the moment
when he recovers his father's sword by raising
the enormous stone under which it had been
concealed. His mother iEthra sits near,
and seems explaining the circumstances to
Theseus, whose force had thus been proved
according to the order of his father. Theseus
is dressed in two tunics, one of which, fast-
ened with a fibbia on the shoulder, is white,
and the other purple. iEthra is dressed in a
robe of yellow colour.
The ground of this painting has been
left white, thus producing a striking contrast
with the broad panel of black which sur-
rounds it. This picture has suffered so much
from exposure, that perhaps little of its
beauty can now be traced, A. D. 1829.
To fill up the plate a coloured border is
and, in addition, the male had the wings of Mercury at his feet,
so as to leave little doubt that both the pictures are intended to
represent Mercury, when sent by Jupiter to restore Io to liberty,
after having slain Argus with the sword which he holds in his
hand. The rock is so undefined in either of the paintings, that
it is impossible to decide whether it be a dense substance, or
only the cloud in which the Thunderer sometimes visited his
favourite.
The subject seems to have been taken
from the story of Theseus, at the moment
when he recovers his father's sword by raising
the enormous stone under which it had been
concealed. His mother iEthra sits near,
and seems explaining the circumstances to
Theseus, whose force had thus been proved
according to the order of his father. Theseus
is dressed in two tunics, one of which, fast-
ened with a fibbia on the shoulder, is white,
and the other purple. iEthra is dressed in a
robe of yellow colour.
The ground of this painting has been
left white, thus producing a striking contrast
with the broad panel of black which sur-
rounds it. This picture has suffered so much
from exposure, that perhaps little of its
beauty can now be traced, A. D. 1829.
To fill up the plate a coloured border is
and, in addition, the male had the wings of Mercury at his feet,
so as to leave little doubt that both the pictures are intended to
represent Mercury, when sent by Jupiter to restore Io to liberty,
after having slain Argus with the sword which he holds in his
hand. The rock is so undefined in either of the paintings, that
it is impossible to decide whether it be a dense substance, or
only the cloud in which the Thunderer sometimes visited his
favourite.