DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.14144#0339
RELIEF OF ORPHEUS AND EURYDICE. 303
is inscribed with the names of Orpheus, Eurydice, and Hermes} and
although we may fairly doubt the genuineness of this inscription, the
scene carries with it its own interpretation. The artist represents with
exquisite feeling and taste the final parting betw een the faithful pair, the
sad result of the fatal, yet so pardonable, indiscretion of Orpheus.
The myth is almost too well known to need relation here. When
the beautiful Eurydice died, Orpheus followed her to the infernal
regions, and by the irresistible power of his lyre moved the stern
hearts of Persephone and of Hades himself:—
Eurydice was summoned and allowed to follow her husband to
the realms of light and life, on condition that Orpheus did not look
back at his rescued wife until they had emerged from the Avernian
valleys. Just as they had reached ' the margin of the upper earth,' the
Rhodopcian hero, overpowered by anxiety and love,' turned his loving
eyes,' and forthwith Eurydice glides back into the murky gloom of
Hades, and is lost to him for ever.3 According to the poet, his
stretched-out arms caught nothing but the yielding air;4 the more
merciful sculptor grants the unhappy pair a moment's parting, and
that is represented here.
The theme is treated with the utmost simplicity and tenderness of
feeling; and we know no better example of the tendency of the best
Greek art to moderate the external manifestation of emotion. Here
are no loud wailing, no distorted features, no frantic gestures, no wild
abandon, and yet its very moderation and self-restraint only render
the scene more pathetic and affecting. Eurydice leans affectionately
towards the faithful one who had faced the king of terrors to save
her_to whom life was worthless without her,5—and gently lays her
hand upon his shoulder. Orpheus raises his hand to hers, while he
1 The copy in Paris bears the modern and * Ovid, Mctam. x. 58 :—
Xec regia conjux
Sustinet oranti, nec qui regit ima, negareJ
1 The copy in Tans Dears urc muuau •»">
erroneous inscription of Amphion, Antiope,
and Zcthos.
* Ovid, Mctam. x. 46.
3 Virg. Gcor*. iv. 499 :
» Ovid, Mctam. x. 38 :—
CJuod si fata Bf gam veniatn pro conjuge, certum
Nolle ltdtn miln. Leto gaudete duorum.
is inscribed with the names of Orpheus, Eurydice, and Hermes} and
although we may fairly doubt the genuineness of this inscription, the
scene carries with it its own interpretation. The artist represents with
exquisite feeling and taste the final parting betw een the faithful pair, the
sad result of the fatal, yet so pardonable, indiscretion of Orpheus.
The myth is almost too well known to need relation here. When
the beautiful Eurydice died, Orpheus followed her to the infernal
regions, and by the irresistible power of his lyre moved the stern
hearts of Persephone and of Hades himself:—
Eurydice was summoned and allowed to follow her husband to
the realms of light and life, on condition that Orpheus did not look
back at his rescued wife until they had emerged from the Avernian
valleys. Just as they had reached ' the margin of the upper earth,' the
Rhodopcian hero, overpowered by anxiety and love,' turned his loving
eyes,' and forthwith Eurydice glides back into the murky gloom of
Hades, and is lost to him for ever.3 According to the poet, his
stretched-out arms caught nothing but the yielding air;4 the more
merciful sculptor grants the unhappy pair a moment's parting, and
that is represented here.
The theme is treated with the utmost simplicity and tenderness of
feeling; and we know no better example of the tendency of the best
Greek art to moderate the external manifestation of emotion. Here
are no loud wailing, no distorted features, no frantic gestures, no wild
abandon, and yet its very moderation and self-restraint only render
the scene more pathetic and affecting. Eurydice leans affectionately
towards the faithful one who had faced the king of terrors to save
her_to whom life was worthless without her,5—and gently lays her
hand upon his shoulder. Orpheus raises his hand to hers, while he
1 The copy in Paris bears the modern and * Ovid, Mctam. x. 58 :—
Xec regia conjux
Sustinet oranti, nec qui regit ima, negareJ
1 The copy in Tans Dears urc muuau •»">
erroneous inscription of Amphion, Antiope,
and Zcthos.
* Ovid, Mctam. x. 46.
3 Virg. Gcor*. iv. 499 :
» Ovid, Mctam. x. 38 :—
CJuod si fata Bf gam veniatn pro conjuge, certum
Nolle ltdtn miln. Leto gaudete duorum.