The Enchanted Castle

Frances Danby (1793-1861) was born in Ireland and studied at the drawing schools of the Royal Dublin Society. He moved to England in 1813 and during his lifetime lived in London, Bristol, London and finally Exmouth in Devon. He also lived in Paris and Geneva between 1829 and 1838. He was elected ARA in 1825.

Danby's earlier Bristol works were landscapes and topographical views but by 1820 he had begun to experiment with literary, mythological and biblical subjects. This painting was exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1841 with the unattributed quotation appended to the title: 'O! how can mortals hope for bliss,/When fairies grieve in place like this'.

The painting had been previously catalogued as Danby's 'Calypso Grieving for her Lost Lover' of 1825 but it has since been identified as 'The Enchanted Castle'. This attribution is based on the fact that the subject of Psyche, Eros and the enchanted castle, taken from the satirical allegory by the second-century author Apuleius, fits the painting, while that of Calypso does not.