Clytie, by Frederic Lord Leighton. 1895. Oil on canvas. H 156 x W 136 cm. Collection: Leighton House Museum. Accession no. LH3015. Purchased with the assistance of the Heritage Lottery Fund, the Art Fund and the Friends of Leighton House and 18 Stafford Terrace. Image credit: The Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea Culture Service, Leighton House Museum. Downloaded from Art UK for purposes of scholarly research.
Emilie Barrington describes Leighton's Clytie here as "despairing" as the sea nymph, promoted here to the likeness of a goddess, stretches her arms out in "a passionate farewell to her god" (97, 337). According to her story in classical mythology, she will pine away for Apollo and be turned into that ubiquitous fin de siècle motif, a sunflower. The beginning of her metamorphosis is clearly shown in Evelyn De Morgan's Clytie. — Jacqueline Banerjee
Links to Related Material
- Desiring Women: Myth, Love and Leighton’s Clytie
- Clytie by G. F. Watts
- Mary Lloyd - The Face of an Angel, Part III (Mary Lloyd as the model for Clytie)
Bibliography
Barrington, Emilie. The Life, Letters and Work of Frederic Leighton. London: George Allen, Ruskin House, Vol. II, 1906. Project Gutenberg. Web. 25 September 2024.
Created 25 September 2024