Paris and Oenone, John Flaxman, 1791
John Flaxman, portraitJohn FlaxmanEnglish, 1755–1826

Paris and Oenone

1791 · Drawing

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The Cleveland Museum of Art

Cleveland, United States

It belongs to the collection, but is not on display at present.

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In this state since
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The museum

About the work

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.

The Cleveland Museum of Art

Particulars

Accession number
2008.35

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