Description
The painting “The Death of Procris” is a fifteenth-century unsigned painting attributed to the famous Florentine painter Piero di Cosimo, which is on display in the National Gallery, London. The name of the painting was changed to “A Satyr mourning over a Nymph” following Cecil Gould’s catalogue of the painting in 1951 (Hagen, 2003). The painting depicts a Satyr, which is a male Greek mythological creature, lamenting over the corpse of a nymph. A dog is also seen sitting at the feet of the dead woman, with other creatures, including a pelican, lurking in the background. The dimensions of this oil painting are 25.7 in. x 72.5 in. The theme of the painting depicts the mournful tale of Cephalus and Procris, as told by Ovid in Metamorphoses (Book VIII) and Niccolo d’Correggio’s Italian play Cefalo. (Geronimous, 2006)
Analysis and Interpretation
The mythological story depicted in the artwork involves the accidental death of Procris at the hands of her husband, Cephalus. Procris was wrongly informed of her husband’s betrayal of marital fidelity. Provoked by jealousy and doubt, Procris followed her husband and hid herself in a bush. Cephalus mistook her for a wild animal and attacked her with his javelin, which resulted in her ultimate death. The javelin, told in the story, and the dog, which is shown in the painting, were gifts from Procris to Cephalus.
The use of colours and light in the painting strikes a chord of resonance with the viewers. The painting begins with a backdrop of pale greyish blue hills and progresses to greener landscapes. A pale orange sheath that drapes the body of the nymph is seen as a contiguous part of the landscape. The drooping of the flowers towards the corpse is symbolic of the tragedy portrayed by the story. Through this innate technique, Cosimo has stayed true to the idea of an “empathic landscape” – a landscape which is not merely a passive element to the painting’s theme but is involved in telling the story. (Hagen, 2003)
From the translucent maiden’s sheathing to the fawn-coloured goat sandals, the artist Cosimo has included details of warm hues in the background of a serene milky-blue sky. The gradual whitening of the bluish sky, as depicted in many paintings of this time, stays true to the actual visible appearance of the sky, which is usually blue overhead and white towards the horizon. The samples of paint taken from this painting reveal that Cosimo employed heated walnut oil for this artwork, a technique which increases the painting’s refractive index, lends to the formation of much richer colour tones, and produces a velvety finish. Such a complex yet delicate presentation of the story led Erwin Panofsky, the famous art historian, to state that he was beguiled by its ethereal beauty.
This painting, like most of the other artworks by Cosimo, is not an entity that will readily reveal itself before the audience. It attempts to reward art connoisseurs for their intrinsic sense of visual acuity and literary knowledge by gradually releasing its complex elements onto the viewers. This painting can be categorized as slow art – an artwork that requires time to build up in the eyes and minds of the viewers. The process of analysing and interpreting this painting is gradual and reflective, as opposed to a shallow and emotionless approach (Laving, 1954)
Unlike most Renaissance paintings, this piece by Cosimo has undertones of surrealism. Instead of depicting the image of Cephalus, Cosimo has indulged in the creative freedom of showing a Satyr crying over the body of the nymph. This might have been used by the painter to reveal that jealousy, doubt, and impulsiveness can bring out the beast from within a civilized human. The Satyr is often portrayed as being sexually aggressive towards females in Greek and Roman stories(Branham, 1997); hence, the nymph stands more vulnerable to such a barbaric creature. The curving and bending roads, birds flying at a distance, and the bleak outlines of ships at sea – these elements create a powerful imagery of the inevitability of death.
This painting has profound implications for the institution of marriage. It depicts the devastating consequences jealousy can lead to in an otherwise amiable matrimony. This painting served as a cautionary tale, more so for newlywed couples, over the tragic repercussions of impulsiveness and lack of faith between partners. The dimensions of this painting do not follow the usual conventions of ffifteenth-centuryFlorentine paintings. The size and shape of the painting provide strong evidence that it was used as a frontal display for a bridal chest (Hagen, 2003). This particular fact reveals deeper connections of this painting with the subject of nuptials.
References:
1. Lavin, Irving (1954), “Cephalus and Procris: Transformations of an Ovidian Myth”, Vol. 17, No. 3/4 (1954), pp. 260-287
2. Hagen, Rose-Marie; Hagen, Rainer (2003), “What Great Paintings Say”. ISBN 3-8228-2100-4. Pages 104-109.
3. Geronimus, Dennis(2006), “ Piero di Cosimo: Visions Beautiful and Strange.” Yale University Press, 2006. ISBN 0-300-10911-3. Pages 85-90.
4. Fermor, Sharon (1993). “ Piero di Cosimo: Fiction, Invention, and Fantasia”
5. Panofsky, Erwin (1937), ‘The Early History of Man in Two Cycles of Paintings by Piero di Cosimo’, Journal of the Warburg and Courtauld Institutes.
