The Death of Leander / Giulio Carpioni
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About this Item
Record Details
- Accession Number
- 1984/1.290
- Title
- The Death of Leander
- Artist
- Giulio Carpioni
- Artist Nationality
- Italian (Venetian)
- Artist Life Dates
- 1613-1678
- Medium and Support
- oil on canvas
- Object Creation Date
- circa 1655
- Object Creation Place
- Europe (continent)
- Italy (nation)
- Veneto (region)
- Venezia (province)
- Venice (inhabited place)
- Creation Place 1
- Europe (continent)
- Creation Place 2
- Italy (nation)
- Creation Place 3
- Veneto (region)
- Creation Place 4
- Venezia (province)
- Creation Place 5
- Venice (inhabited place)
- Credit Line
- Museum Purchase
- Style/Group/Movement
- Baroque
- Period
- Europe, Baroque (1590-1750)
- Dimensions
- 77.8 cm x 110.1 cm (30 5/8 in. x 43 3/8 in.)
- Century
- 17th century
- Primary Object Classification
- Painting
- Primary Object Type
- narrative painting
- Physical Description
- In dark turbulent waters under a stormy sky four nude sea nymphs support the body of a long-haired man between them on a white shroud. The face of a man with kelp in his hair appears between two of the nymphs. On the right a bearded man with a trident in his right hand rides in a chariot fashioned from a seashell and pulled by two fished-tailed horses or hippocampi. Just visible in the distance behind the back of the rightmost nymph, a lofty tower rises above the waves.
- Subject Matter
- This painting depicts the drowning of Leander, a young man who was the lover of a priestess of Aphrodite named Hero. Every night Leander would swim across the Hellespont, the strait connecting the Sea of Marmara to the Aegean Sea, to the tower where Hero lived so as to pass the hours with his beloved. A winter storm, evoked in the painting by the turbulent waters and stormy sky, caught Leander during one of his nightly crossings, and he drowned. Four sea nymphs, accompanied by a merman and Poseidon in his sea chariot, have risen from the dark waves to support Leander's body in a white shroud. Their mourning and anguish over the dead lover foreshadows the impending sorrow and suicide of Hero, who still waits on her tower visible in the distance.
- Secondary Keywords
- animals and creatures
- events
- freewheeled vehicles
- freewheeled vehicles by form or function
- land vehicles
- land vehicles by form
- legendary creatures
- natural events
- objects we use
- paintings
- paintings by material or technique
- people and culture
- personal life events
- transportation vehicles
- vehicles
- visual works
- visual works by medium or technique
- Rights
- If you are interested in using an image for a publication, please visit https://umma.umich.edu/about/services/request-image/ for more information and to fill out the online Image Rights and Reproductions Request Form.
Technical Details
- Collection
- University of Michigan Museum of Art
- Image Size
- 3490 x 2415
- File Size
- 364 KB
- Record
- 1984/1.290
- Link to this Item
-
https://quod.lib.umich.edu/m/musart/x-1984-sl-1.290/1984_1.290.jpg
Rights and Permissions
Related Links
Portfolios
- In public portfolios
IIIF
- Manifest
-
https://quod.lib.umich.edu/cgi/i/image/api/manifest/musart:1984-SL-1.290:1984_1.290.JPG
Cite this Item
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- Full citation
-
"The Death of Leander; Giulio Carpioni." In the digital collection University of Michigan Museum of Art. https://quod.lib.umich.edu/m/musart/x-1984-sl-1.290/1984_1.290.jpg. University of Michigan Library Digital Collections. Accessed June 01, 2024.