#dibutades

[allegorypaintings]

The Origin of Painting, or Dibutades Drawing the Portrait of his Lover

Artist: Jean Baptiste Regnault (French, 1754-1829)

Date: 1785

Medium: Oil on canvas

Collection: Grand Palace of Versailles, Paris, France

[naked-atelier]

Francine van Hove, Dibutades, 2007

[artfavorites]

Joseph Wright of Derby, The Corinthian Maid, 1782-1784.

[books0977]

The Origin of Painting, Dibutades Tracing the Portrait of her Lover (1714-1717). Jean Raoux (French, 1677-1734). Oil on canvas.

Dibutades was the daughter of a potter in ancient Corinth, a city in Greece whose wares first helped to establish the fame of Greek pottery. Hoping to keep a record of her boyfriend, who was departing the city, Dibutades traced the outline of his shadow on a wall. Her father filled in this silhouette with clay and fired it in his kiln. It became the first relief sculpture.

[lilacsinthedooryard]

Joseph Wright of Derby (British, 1734-1797)

The Corinthian Maid  1782-84

[rubd]

The myth about the origin of painting is a love story. In his Natural History (circa 77-79AD) Pliny the Elder tells the story of Butades of Corinth. "It was through his daughter [Kora] that he made the discovery; who, being deeply in love with a young man about to depart on a long journey, traced the profile of his face, as thrown upon the wall by the light of the lamp." [x]

From the mid-to-late 18th century until the early 19th century, The Origin of Painting was a mildly popular sub-genre.

post 2

[vcrfl-blog]

Jean Raoux: The Origin of Painting, c. 1714–17.

[xflsh-blog]

Dibutades