DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.62133#0049
THE STUDIO OF WILHELM VON KAULBACH.
33
broken Thetis, who to the left of Sibylla’s boat rises from
the waves towards heaven, bearing with devoted love the
urn which holds the beloved ashes of her heroic son ! An
unutterable tenderness and woe speak in her lovely, plain-
tive, tearful, upraised face. The gentlest and tenderest of
her attendant Nereides watch her as she departs, striving
to detain her by their caresses and looks of love •, whilst
others of a sterner nature, the nymphs of storm and ship-
wreck, are less sympathetic, and busy themselves with their
own affairs. Their hair is wreathed with coral, with reeds
and sea-blossoms, and fastened up with fantastic fish-bones;
necklaces of shells rest on their large, round shoulders;
one young creature defends herself from the attack of a
swan which, with its companion, sails boldly towards her
with ruffled plumage. Another nymph gazes towards a
warrior seated on the shore with an earnest, proud glance,
as though a deep, passionate love had existed once between
them. But he, a type of the joyous, careless, yet heroic
Grecian nature, has already buried his memories of this
love amid a hundred others. Love, wine, and song, are
the glories of liis existence but for this moment song has
predominant sway over him. His face is averted from the
proud nymph, his hand rests carelessly upon the shoulder
of a lovely boy who presses to his side, holding upon his
knee an ivy-wreathed beaker; and he listens entranced
by Homer’s strains. And now stretches along the shore
in a vast semi-circle the Grecian nation, represented by its
various types of poets, sages, sculptors, painters, warriors,
and shepherds. There are voluptuous youthful counte-
nances whose ambrosial locks are wreathed with odorous
fresh flowers • some listen, sunk in dreams • others, roused
by a generous enthusiasm, stretch forth their arms, and
their eyes gleam with inspiration; there you see, seated
upon the rocky shore, stern, old, bearded men, who rest
garlanded lyres upon their knees, whilst their old brows are
VOL. I. D
33
broken Thetis, who to the left of Sibylla’s boat rises from
the waves towards heaven, bearing with devoted love the
urn which holds the beloved ashes of her heroic son ! An
unutterable tenderness and woe speak in her lovely, plain-
tive, tearful, upraised face. The gentlest and tenderest of
her attendant Nereides watch her as she departs, striving
to detain her by their caresses and looks of love •, whilst
others of a sterner nature, the nymphs of storm and ship-
wreck, are less sympathetic, and busy themselves with their
own affairs. Their hair is wreathed with coral, with reeds
and sea-blossoms, and fastened up with fantastic fish-bones;
necklaces of shells rest on their large, round shoulders;
one young creature defends herself from the attack of a
swan which, with its companion, sails boldly towards her
with ruffled plumage. Another nymph gazes towards a
warrior seated on the shore with an earnest, proud glance,
as though a deep, passionate love had existed once between
them. But he, a type of the joyous, careless, yet heroic
Grecian nature, has already buried his memories of this
love amid a hundred others. Love, wine, and song, are
the glories of liis existence but for this moment song has
predominant sway over him. His face is averted from the
proud nymph, his hand rests carelessly upon the shoulder
of a lovely boy who presses to his side, holding upon his
knee an ivy-wreathed beaker; and he listens entranced
by Homer’s strains. And now stretches along the shore
in a vast semi-circle the Grecian nation, represented by its
various types of poets, sages, sculptors, painters, warriors,
and shepherds. There are voluptuous youthful counte-
nances whose ambrosial locks are wreathed with odorous
fresh flowers • some listen, sunk in dreams • others, roused
by a generous enthusiasm, stretch forth their arms, and
their eyes gleam with inspiration; there you see, seated
upon the rocky shore, stern, old, bearded men, who rest
garlanded lyres upon their knees, whilst their old brows are
VOL. I. D