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Paris and Oenone

John Flaxman1791

The Cleveland Museum of Art

The Cleveland Museum of Art
Cleveland, United States

Although he identified himself first and foremost as a sculptor, John Flaxman’s greatest fame and most lasting influence rest with his drawings. Engravings made after his spare designs illustrating classical epics by Homer, Dante, and Hesiod became the most celebrated work in his oeuvre and spread his stylized linearity widely. This highly finished, signed and dated drawing was made while Flaxman was in Rome and needed to supplement his income while trying to obtain commissions for sculpture. Flaxman chose an obscure classical subject: the famous Trojan shepherd, Paris, with his first love, the nymph Oenone. The scene takes place on Mount Ida, in an idyllic time of peace before Paris was called upon to judge the beauty of the goddesses Hera, Athena, and Aphrodite, thus instigating the Trojan War.

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  • Title: Paris and Oenone
  • Creator: John Flaxman (British, 1755-1826)
  • Date Created: 1791
  • Physical Dimensions: Sheet: 30.3 x 48.8 cm (11 15/16 x 19 3/16 in.); Secondary Support: 35.1 x 53.6 cm (13 13/16 x 21 1/8 in.)
  • Provenance: Marquis de Lagoy [1764-1829; L. 1710], By repute, from a member of the William Randolph Hearst family, (Alexander Acevedo, Alexander Gallery, New York, NY), Private Collector, New York, NY, (Monroe Warshaw, New York, NY, sold to the Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH), Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
  • Type: Drawing
  • Rights: CC0
  • External Link: https://clevelandart.org/art/2008.35
  • Medium: brush and gray wash with pen and pale gray-black ink with graphite and brown ink
  • Inscriptions: signed and dated, in black ink, at lower left: Flaxman, Roma / 1791
  • Fun Fact: John Flaxman called his drawings "outlines," referring to their sparse style.
  • Department: Drawings
  • Culture: England, 18th century
  • Credit Line: Purchase from the J. H. Wade Fund
  • Collection: DR - British
  • Accession Number: 2008.35
The Cleveland Museum of Art

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