Sappho is an 1877 oil painting by the French artist Charles Mengin.Martindale, Charles & Thomas p.257Howard p.60 The painting shows the Ancient Greek poetess Sappho, celebrated for her largely now-lost writings. The picture was based on a legendary scene – having been rejected by the boatman Phaon, Sappho goes to throw herself off a cliff at Leucadia. She is shown filled with grief on the clifftop.
Sappho was a popular subject throughout the nineteenth century based as much as the legend that built around her as the fragments of poetry that have survived.Budelman p.356-57 The scene had depicted has notably featured in the Romantic poet Thomas Moore's Evenings in Greece from 1826. Mengin displayed the picture at the Salon of 1877 in Paris.https://collections.manchesterartgallery.org/collections/narrative/a8aea4da-f68f-3b05-8023-afee7bc0ce0b/ The painting is now part of the collection of Manchester Art Gallery, having been acquired in 1884.https://artuk.org/discover/artworks/sappho-205579
References
Bibliography Budelman, Felix (ed.) The Cambridge Companion to Greek Lyric. Cambridge University Press, 2009. Howard, Michael. Up Close: A Guide to Manchester Art Gallery. Scala, 2002. Martindale, Charles & Thomas, Richard F. Classics and the Uses of Reception. John Wiley & Sons, 2008.
ca:Sappho (Menguin)