Hero and Leander

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Hero and Leander

About the Item

This painting shows Hero waving to an invisible Leander, at the opposite side of the Hellespont. It’s an atypical representation of the Greek myth ‘Hero and Leander’ telling the unfortunate love story of Hero, a young priestess of Aphrodite at Sestus on the European side of the Hellespont and Leander, a young man from Abydos on the opposite side of the strait. To make love to her, he swam each night across the Hellespont, guided by a lamp which Hero had lighted earlier in the evening at the top of the tower where she was waiting for him. On a cold and stormy winter’s night, the howling wind extinguished the lamp. Leander lost his way in the rough waves and overwhelmed by fatigue, he drowned at sea. Unable to cope with the loss of her beloved Leander, Hero took her own life by throwing her self from the tower at sea. Thus death uniting the young lovers. In Antiquity the history of Hero and Leander was – for example – depicted on coins from the cities of Abydos and Sestus, on gems, and on some frescoes (for ex. in the ‘Casa dei Vettii’ at Pompeii). They show Leander swimming towards a tower on which Hero stands at the top holding a lamp in her right hand. Signed lower right. Ernst Oskar Simonson-Castelli was a painter of historical and genre scenes, portraits, interiors and landscapes. He was a student of the Belgian painter Ferdinand Pauwels (Ekeren 1830 - Dresden 1904), renowned for his genre and historical scenes, director of the 'Dresdener Akademie'. In 1890 he continued his studies at the Munich academy of arts and in 1892 in Paris at the 'Académie Julian' under Jules Dupré (1811-1889), a landscape painter of the 'École Barbizon'. From 1893 on, he installed himself in Dresden where he founded in 1897 his personal academy for drawing, painting and modelling. Work of Simonson-Castelli can be admired in museums in Dresden, Lübeck, Moscow, Schwerin, Urbino and in churches in Dresden-Gotta, Riesa, Viareggio and Montesenario. Sources: Bénézit, E. (1999), Dictionnaire critique et documentaire des peintres, sculpteurs, dessinateurs et graveurs de tous les temps et de tous les pays par un groupe d’écrivains spécialistes français et étrangers, Paris: Éditions Gründ, vol. 12, p. 836; Thieme, U., & Becker, F. (1999), Allgemeines Lexikon der bildenden Künstler von der Antike bis zur Gegenwart, Leipzig: E. A. Seemann, vol. 31, p. 79.

Creator:
Ernst Oskar Simonson-Castelli (Painter)
Dimensions:
Height: 40.55 in (103 cm)Width: 51.18 in (130 cm)Depth: 2.36 in (6 cm)
Materials and Techniques:
Painted
Place of Origin:
Germany
Period:
19th Century
Date of Manufacture:
End of the 19th century
Condition:
Wear consistent with age and use. Relined, framed. Reverse side: old label on the stretcher.
Seller Location:
Brussels & Antwerp, BE
Reference Number:
1stDibs: 121214951618

Hero and Leander

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