Shop art print and framed art Circe, la tentatrice by John Collier

Circe is a painting by the Pre-Raphaelite painter John Collier, produced in 1885. It is an oil on canvas measuring 133 × 219 cm. With meticulously descriptive detail, luminously intense colours and fine, almost invisible brushstrokes, the work depicts the magician Circe seated naked, three-quarter-backed, on the grass of a clearing, accompanied by a tiger lying facing the viewer, She is accompanied by a tiger lying facing the viewer, on which she rests her torso, draping her right arm over the animal's back, and an ocelot resting its snout on its feet, towards which she turns her gaze, while a puma and a wild boar stand at the edge of the wood. While the magician of the Odyssey is presented by Homer surrounded by lions and wolves ("They find in a valley, in an open place, Circe's house with its smooth stone walls and, all around, turned into lions and mountain wolves, the men whom the perfidious goddess had bewitched by giving them her drug. "In the same vein, John Collier's Circe is accompanied by a tiger and an ocelot, bringing her closer to Feronie, the Roman "wild goddess" mentioned by Victor Bérard. John Collier's Circe is not a witch devoid of mercy, filled with spite and deceit. On the contrary, the model has superb grace and dignity. Her voluptuous beauty, languorous pose and seductive charm do not reveal her latent power, which is nevertheless apparent in the attitude of the animals totally under her sway. The review in The Saturday Review on 16 May 1885, which [...]

 

This artwork is a painting from the modern period. It belongs to the pre-raphaelism style.

 

« Circe, la tentatrice » is kept at Private Collection.

 

Find the full description of Circe, la tentatrice by John Collier on Wikipedia.