Oedipus and Antigone

Artist Charles Thévenin (Paris, France, 1764 - 1838)

Mediumoil on panel

ClassificationsPaintings And Drawings

DimensionsOverall: Height: 59.5 cm, Width: 46.8 cm
Frame size: Height: 81.8 cm, Width: 69.1 cm, Depth: 9.5 cm

AcquisitionBequeathed in 1896 by Mrs Duthie.

CopyrightOut of copyright - CC0

LocationView by Appointment - Aberdeen Treasure Hub

Object numberABDAG000101

Keywords

About MeCharles Thévenin was a neoclassical French painter, known for heroic scenes from the time of the French Revolution and First French Empire. In 1798 he left for Italy, staying at the French Academy in Rome and becoming the Academy's director from 1816 to 1823. It was there that he met the famous French neoclassical artist Dominique Ingres who was to depict Oedipus and the Sphinx, c. 1805. This may have provided inspiration for Thévenin's own interpretation of this famous character from Greek mythology, although he chooses to show Oedipus not with the Sphinx but with his daughter Antigone.

Antigone was a daughter of the accidentally incestuous marriage between King Oedipus of Thebes and his mother Jocasta. When at last they learned the truth, Jocasta committed suicide and Oedipus blinded himself and went into exile. Oedipus has served as the hero of many tragedies, most notably Sophocles' Oedipus Rex and Oedipus at Colonus. Here Thévenin depicts Oedipus as related by Sophocles in Oedipus at Colonus, being guided in his later wanderings by his faithful daughter, Antigone.

On his return to Paris, Thévenin was elected a member of the Académie des Beaux-Arts in 1825 and was then named Conservateur of the Cabinet des estampes in the Bibliothèque nationale.

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In this scene from Greek mythology, Antigone is accompanying her father and half-brother, Oedipus into exile. Oedipus has blinded himself in remorse following the suicide of Jocasta, his and Antigone's mother.