Poseidon Abducts Amymone Antique Art Print ~ Felix Giacomotti

Antique Goupil & Cie. photogravure art print from the picture by Felix Henri Giacomotti.

Printed on mid-weight ivory colored stock. Reverse side is blank.

Title: Abduction of Amymone

Publication: The Masterpieces of French Art

Publication Year: 1883

Approximate Page Size (in inches): 11 x 14

Approximate Image Size (in inches): 6¾ x 9½

Condition: Very good with some light to moderate foxing in margin area with one spot in image (top left corner). Atticpaper.com watermark does not appear on actual print.

The classic myths, offspring of a fervid imagination, half religious and half romantic, poets and artists find a peculiar fascination and an exhaustless supply of themes for poetic and pictorial representation. The gods of those early days were almost everything but moral; and that being the case we can only wonder that the people were in any degree strict in their virtues; for it is not usual for votaries to equal, much less to exceed, the morality of the divinities they worship.

Our artist depicts an incident in the life of Amymone, the beautiful daughter of Danaus and Elephantis. Her parents had just moved into Argos, which country, in consequence of some offence given to Poseidon (the chief sea god, -- the Neptune of the Romans), was suffering from a drought. Amymone was therefore sent out in search of water. While on this quest, she espied a stag, and being something of a huntress she could not resist the temptation to have a shot at it. Alas! she little dreamed of the trouble that this attempt to combine busiruess and pleasure was to make for her. Missing the stag, her arrow struck a sleeping satyr, who at once furiously pursued her. The terrified maid cried aloud to the god Poseidon for succor. Her cries were heard; the god appeared; and he delivered her, did he not? Oh, yes! but only that ho might appropriate her to his own use. A great deliverance, truly! As disinterested as that of the friendly shark who took the poor sailor in out of the wet.

The artist has conceived the heroine as borne over the waves by Poseidon's ministers, the tritons, towards his abode beneath the sea. The grouping of the figures, the skillful treatment of the drapery, the liquid and transparent water, the effect of distance and, above all, the superb drawing, form an admirable ensemble.