#sleeping figures

[galleryofart]

The Supper after the Masked Ball

Artist: Thomas Couture (French, 1815-1879)

Date: c. 1855

Medium: Woodcut with painted and stenciled additions on tan wove paper, laid down on fabric, and stretched on a wooden stretcher

Collection: Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, IL, United States

[artemlegere]

Penelope 'Then During the Day She Wove the Large Web, Which at Night She Unravelled' The Odyssey

Artist: Thomas B. Seddon (English, 1821-1856)

Date: 1852

Medium: Oil on canvas

Collection: Private Collection

Description

In Homer’s The Odyssey, Penelope, wife of Odysseus, weaves a burial shroud for her father-in-law, Laertes, by day, only to secretly unravel it at night. This ruse lasted for three years, allowing her to delay marrying one of the many suitors vying for her hand and the throne while waiting for her husband's return.

[sheltiechicago]

Ethereal Sleeping Figures Gracefully Emerge From Blocks of Raw Wood

Ethereal characters emerge from large pieces of wood in the art of Akiko Mimasu. The Japanese artist carves tranquil, slumbering faces atop long chunks of timber, each of which appears to be safely wrapped inside the wooden log.

[artemlegere]

Cimon and Iphegenia

Artist: Cornelis van Poelenburch (Netherlandish, c. 1586-1667)

Date: ca. 1630-1650)

Medium: Oil on copper

Collection: National Galleries of Scotland, Edinburgh, Scotland

Description

This painting presents a story from Boccaccio’s Decameron. Cimon, a handsome but coarse and uneducated son of a nobleman, came across the maiden Iphegenia and fell instantly in love. The effects of love transformed him into a polished and accomplished gentleman, who eventually courted and married the beautiful Iphegenia. This scene shows the moment of their encounter – Cimon appears as a hunter at right, while Iphegenia dozes in the open air with a companion to the left. This painting is unusual in Poelenburch’s oeuvre for the large size of the figures.