Puvis de Chavannes, Pierre (1824-1898)
La Poésie dramatique (Dramatic Poetry, Aeschylus)
c.1896
Oil on canvas, 124.1 x 63.2 cm
Barnes Foundation, Philadelphia
This painting is a scaled-down version of an enormous canvas—over 14 × 7 feet—that Puvis de Chavannes painted as part of a cycle of nine murals for the Boston Public Library. The series, the French artist’s first and only commission in the United States, represents the spheres of human knowledge contained in the library’s holdings. Here we see the Greek playwright Aeschylus reading the text of his tragedy Prometheus Bound while the climactic scene from the play unfolds behind him. (BF)
See also:
• Aeschylus (c.525 BC-c.456 BC): Prometheus Bound (English)