c.1830-c.1896
English Aesthetic, New Sculpture (19th Century British), Olympian Classical Revivalist painter, sculptor, illustrator and writer
The Garden of the Hesperides
circa 1892
169 x 169 cms | 66 1/2 x 66 1/2 ins
Oil on canvas
Bebington | United Kingdom
This design is full of youth, and beauty; the colour is rich and warm - almost voluptuous ... [W]e have the tree of life with its golden apples; for a rocky coast we have the beautiful Garden of Hesperides, with the purple ocean beyond. The three daughters of Atlas sit beneath a the wonderful tree, around the trunk of which is wound the body of a huge serpent. The girl in the centre, who is half-draped, caresses the scaly hide of the monster; her sister on the right sings to the accompaniment of a lyre; while the maiden on the left toys carelessly with the food which she holds in a bowl. The grace and serenity of the composition are eminently characteristic of the President's later manner.
Source: Victorian Art in Great Britain.