THE DANAIDES BY JOHN WATERHOUSE TISSUE PAPER
A stunning painting by John William Waterhouse with a rather morbid subject. Without knowing the background story the beautiful colors and maidens make for a beautiful piece of Victorian art. The actual story is typical of Waterhouse's love for mythological subjects and how he is regularly drawn to those with trajic endings, typical of a true Romantic artist. The Danaides were 50 sisters, all daughters to Danaus who fled to Greece with his daughters to keep them from marrying his twin brothers sons who the were betroved to. Eventually the marriages took place and their father commanded them to kill their husbands on their wedding night. The horrible massacre (only one daughter disobeyed her father) was such an atrocity to the Gods that the women were condemed to an endless torment in Hades of filling a giant cistern that could never be filled due to the holes in the basin. There are different versions of the story but one of the most well known is told by the Roman poet Ovid. (Note: this is a modified version of the original painting curtosy of Plum Leaves, a talented artist on Flickr who was able to add a bit of extra clothing to one of the gals loosing her dress in the painting :) Salvagescapes only posts G rated artwork). For other fantastic John William Watherhouse fine art see the SalvageScapes store collection appropriately named JOHN WILLIAM WATERHOUSE
Powered by Zazzle