1712
From the collection of Cleveland Museum of Art
Althaea Putting the Fatal Log on the Fire is a 1712 by Bernard Picart, a Baroque work, held at Cleveland Museum of Art.
This painting shows a woman holding a burning log over a fire. Two shadowy figures push her to act. The scene comes from an old Greek myth about a mother punishing her son. The artist used sharp light and dark to make the woman’s anger feel real. The flames almost jump off the page. Look up chiaroscuro to see how this light-and-shadow trick works.
This drawing depicts a scene from the life of Meleager, a figure from Greek mythology who was prophesied to die when a log in the fireplace at the time of his birth completely burned. At that time, Meleager’s mother, Althaea, put out the log and stowed it away for safekeeping. Years later, in the scene depicted here, Althaea exacts revenge on Meleager for killing her brothers in a dispute. Two Furies, goddesses of vengeance, compel the anguished mother to punish her murderous son by burning the fatal log. Picart made this drawing while overseeing the reproduction of Le Brun’s suite of…
Read the full account in the museum source.
Bernard Picart or Picard (11 June 1673 – 8 May 1733), was a French draughtsman, engraver, and book illustrator in Amsterdam, who showed an interest in cultural and religious habits.
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