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| Sometime I just feel unarmed... defenseless... exposed! |
Herbert James Draper, 1864-1920
1900
Oil on canvas, signed
198 x 101 cm
Exhibited: London, Royal Academy of Arts, 1900
Simon Toll, who believes that this painting contains "one of Draper's
most monumental figures," points out that artist "preferred to paint
Greek legends, but in this case he painted Florrie Bird as Aurora, the
Roman Goddess of the Dawn," and he speculates that Ovid's description of
Eos (the equivalent Greek goddess) may have inspired the artist's
treatment of the subject: "far in the crimsoning cast wakeful Dawn threw
wide the shining doors of her rosefilled chambers" (101).Nude study of Aurora
According to Toll, The Gates of Dawn,
which at first glance appears to portray a proud, though thoughtful
beauty, conveys Draper's fascination, even obsession, with destructive
female sexuality:
Aurora is inviting and alluring, magnificently beautiful and proud,
but she is also divinely powerful. Punished by Aphrodite for enticing
Ares, Aurora was condemned to be restless and destructive in her pursuit
of young men. In future years Draper considered painting a scene from
the story of Aurora's love for Tithonus, a mortal granted immortality
without eternal youth, metamorphosed into a grasshopper after his beauty
faded. The discarded roses that litter die floor at Aurora's feet refer
to her inexhaustible passion, and the parasitic bindweed flowers in her
hair also allude to her strangling, obsessive desire. She is like the
sirens: beautiful, erotic, insatiably voracious, and never able to live
happily in the company of men. Aurora was even prepared to hypnotise and
rape her lovers as they slept to satisfy her sexual hunger. Draper's
femmes fatales simultaneously solicit and repel, entice and caution,
desire and despise. [101]
Three observations: First,
if Toll has evidence from the artist's notes or conversations he had
with others, the artist could well have meant the painting to mean that,
but roses can mean many things, including the obvious: roses, like the
dawn, have a fragile evanescent beauty . . . but return in the cycle of
time. Yes, she could be looking for her next victim, but she could also
be looking towards the new day, since she is, after all, the dawn.Second, if Draper "considered painting a scene from the story of Aurora's love for Tithonus, a mortal granted immortality without eternal youth," then he almost certainly drew upon Tennyson's powerful dramatic monologue, "Tithonus."
Third, comparing Draper's preparatory nude study of Florrie Bird with the finished painting, one can observe how much the artist departed from the model for his ideal: he changes (and covers) her awkwatd angular hip and adds a lush round abbdomen that his model did not have. — George P. Landow
References
Toll, Simon. Herbert Draper, 1863-1920: A Life Study. Woodbridge: Antique Collectors Club, 2003.
