We see here a very different type of
picture by Pierre Claude Francois
Delorme (1783-1859), Hero and
Leander, painted in 1814.
This is a Greek myth telling of the
love between Hero, a priestess of Aphrodite that lived in a tower in Sestos
beside the Hellespont (Dardanelles, today), and Leander, a young man from Abydos on the
opposite side of the strait. Leader fell
in love with Hero and would swim every night across the Hellespont to be with
her. She would light a lamp at the top
of her tower to help lead the way for him.
Aphrodite was the Goddess of Love,
but Hero was a virgin. Leander tells
Hero that Aphrodite would not value the supplication of a virgin, and
convinces her to let him make love to her.
Their love affair lasts through the summer; but on one stormy night, the
waves buffet Leander, who becomes lost; the storm also blows out Hero’s guiding
light. Leander drowns, and when Hero
sees his dead body, she throws herself over the tower’s edge, uniting them in
death.
This tale has been popular with
painters, poets, troubadours and writers for thousands of years. (One wonders if the seed of Romeo and Juliet can be found within it.) Of the many literary retellings of the story,
perhaps the best known was by Christopher
Marlowe (1564-1593). In Marlowe’s
version, Leander is spotted during his swim by Neptune, who confuses him with Ganymede
and carries him to the bottom of the ocean.
Neptune is clearly besotted by the young man. Marlowe writes of "[i]magining that
Ganymede, displeas'd, [h]ad left the Heavens ... [t]he lusty god embrac'd him,
call'd him love ... He watched his arms and, as they opened wide [a]t every
stroke, betwixt them would he slide [a]nd steal a kiss, ... And dive into the
water, and there pry [u]pon his breast, his thighs, and every limb, ... [a]nd
talk of love," while the boy, naive and unaware of Greek love practices,
protests, "'You are deceiv'd, I am no woman, I.' Thereat smil'd
Neptune.” When Neptune realizes his
mistake, he brings Leander back to the shore, giving him a bracelet that would
keep him safe from drowning.
Leander arrives at Hero’s
tower. She answers the door to find the
youth nude, and after much love talk, consummate their relationship. The poem ends with dawn approaching; Marlowe
was never able to finish his epic; he would be murdered in a barroom brawl
before completion.
Delorme would no doubt have been
aware of Marlowe’s text, and it’s possible to see where it informed his
painting. With his delicate curls,
beatific smile and shimmering, supple body, Leander is quite beautiful. Hero anoints his tresses with perfume (or,
perhaps, sweet-smelling oils) taken from the open box beside them, a particular
irony, seeing that the youth is doomed to drown. Take a moment to look at how wonderfully
Delorme delineates each of Leander’s fingers (on Hero’s shoulder). These are not the fingers of a Samson, but,
rather, a pretty boy. And though he
looks up at Hero with adoration, he is a little … sappy.
The most splendid component of this
picture is the glorious Hero. Once again
Delorme harkens back to Raphael for
inspiration of the heroine’s face. But
it is in the depiction of her voluptuous (and, frankly, sexual body) that the
quality of the picture rests. It is no
mistake that the centerpiece of the entire painting is Hero’s mons veneris; it lies dead-center in the
picture, and Delomre’s use of light draws the eye’s attention directly to
it. It is also the center of the figure,
and the playful gestures of both her arms and her legs seem to stem from
it. (Even the application of perfume is
code for what is going on, as the couple rejoices next to an open box.)
Delorme’s coyness extends to the
background, where he has a makeshift curtain block the background window; he
places the lyre at the base of Aphrodite’s statue. In the symbolism of ancient Greece, Orpheus was able to play the lyre in
such a way as to knock down stone walls.
This is a witty, beautifully
constructed picture. Not inexplicably
moving, like his Cephalus and Aurora,
but accomplished nonetheless.
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