Yet another painting ID mystery needs help

April 7th, 2011, 01:23 AM

Hi,

I know you've all seen this kind of question before, hopefully this one shouldn't be too hard, because... well, I know I've seen this somewhere more than once, and I am not a fine art buff, which means it should be a more well known piece. My memory is a little hazy, my view was less than ideal, but I'll do my best to provide details while compensating for varied impressions.

The painting consists of a man holding a woman in his arms while the two appear to be falling, floating, or just generally in mid-air (man in back, woman in front, both facing towards viewer). The garments surrounding them gives the impression of wings on the man (or it could be real wings). The woman appears to be looking upwards, with the woman (or man) having one arm uplifted/outstretched as if reaching for something. The man may or may not be focusing in the same direction, or he could have been focusing on her.
(This leads me to believe it's one of those somebody somebody abduction scenes from Greek/Roman mythology, but I could be entirely off track.)
It appears to be oil on canvas, in Renaissance style (entirely wild guess).

Eirene · April 7th, 2011, 08:16 PM

Could it be 'The Abduction Of Psyche'?

Emile Signol - 1804-1892

http://www.allposters.com/-sp/The-Ab..._i1742280_.htm

April 8th, 2011, 06:05 PM

Ah... Good guess, but unfortunately no.

It does fit many of my descriptions, but there are some differences I guess I should clarify further:

In the painting I'm looking for the position of the woman's body is almost entirely in front of the man, with her head perhaps more on the left (painting viewer's left). The man is hugging her from behind, with his head more on the right. The direction the couple (or just one of them) is looking towards is the painting viewer's upper right.

Note that my memory grows more hazy with time, and these positions are just relative. Which is why I didn't want to be TOO specific for fear of causing anyone to eliminate the right painting by mistake. If anyone finds anything even close to what I described in the original post, please do share. Any help is greatly appreciated. If nothing else, everyone can enjoy looking at a few more beautiful pieces of art, right?

Thank you

John · April 9th, 2011, 01:09 PM

If the above suggestion is close, be aware that there are other versions of the same mythological scene, e.g.

Bouguereau - The Abduction Of Psyche

April 10th, 2011, 10:20 PM

You know... I believe that's it! I can't be 100% sure since each new similar painting "paints" over my already hazy memory of my glimpse of the original, but I'm relatively confident this was the painting I'm looking for. Thank you John, Eirene, and any others who might have tried to help.

Now I just have to figure out for myself how exactly this painting fits into the context of that background that I had seen it in. Before posting, I actually tried looking through all the classical abduction scenes from Greek/Roman mythology (Persephone, Europa, etc), but Psyche's story never really occured to me as an abduction, which is why I didn't really look into that one. The painting I saw represented a sense of love more than forced infatuation, and after not finding anything remotely similar for the other stories, I had assumed I was off track regarding the abduction theory.

Anyway, thanks once again!

April 7th, 2011, 01:23 AM	#1
Guest Posts: n/a	Yet another painting ID mystery needs help Hi, I know you've all seen this kind of question before, hopefully this one shouldn't be too hard, because... well, I know I've seen this somewhere more than once, and I am not a fine art buff, which means it should be a more well known piece. My memory is a little hazy, my view was less than ideal, but I'll do my best to provide details while compensating for varied impressions. The painting consists of a man holding a woman in his arms while the two appear to be falling, floating, or just generally in mid-air (man in back, woman in front, both facing towards viewer). The garments surrounding them gives the impression of wings on the man (or it could be real wings). The woman appears to be looking upwards, with the woman (or man) having one arm uplifted/outstretched as if reaching for something. The man may or may not be focusing in the same direction, or he could have been focusing on her. (This leads me to believe it's one of those somebody somebody abduction scenes from Greek/Roman mythology, but I could be entirely off track.) It appears to be oil on canvas, in Renaissance style (entirely wild guess).

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April 7th, 2011, 08:16 PM	#2
Eirene Senior Member Join Date: Dec 2008 Posts: 624	Could it be 'The Abduction Of Psyche'? Emile Signol - 1804-1892 http://www.allposters.com/-sp/The-Ab..._i1742280_.htm

April 8th, 2011, 06:05 PM	#3
Guest Posts: n/a	Ah... Good guess, but unfortunately no. It does fit many of my descriptions, but there are some differences I guess I should clarify further: In the painting I'm looking for the position of the woman's body is almost entirely in front of the man, with her head perhaps more on the left (painting viewer's left). The man is hugging her from behind, with his head more on the right. The direction the couple (or just one of them) is looking towards is the painting viewer's upper right. Note that my memory grows more hazy with time, and these positions are just relative. Which is why I didn't want to be TOO specific for fear of causing anyone to eliminate the right painting by mistake. If anyone finds anything even close to what I described in the original post, please do share. Any help is greatly appreciated. If nothing else, everyone can enjoy looking at a few more beautiful pieces of art, right? Thank you

April 9th, 2011, 01:09 PM	#4
John John Malyon, host Join Date: Dec 2005 Posts: 2,404	If the above suggestion is close, be aware that there are other versions of the same mythological scene, e.g. Bouguereau - The Abduction Of Psyche

April 10th, 2011, 10:20 PM	#5
Guest Posts: n/a	You know... I believe that's it! I can't be 100% sure since each new similar painting "paints" over my already hazy memory of my glimpse of the original, but I'm relatively confident this was the painting I'm looking for. Thank you John, Eirene, and any others who might have tried to help. Now I just have to figure out for myself how exactly this painting fits into the context of that background that I had seen it in. Before posting, I actually tried looking through all the classical abduction scenes from Greek/Roman mythology (Persephone, Europa, etc), but Psyche's story never really occured to me as an abduction, which is why I didn't really look into that one. The painting I saw represented a sense of love more than forced infatuation, and after not finding anything remotely similar for the other stories, I had assumed I was off track regarding the abduction theory. Anyway, thanks once again!