Orpheus and Eurydice

This fragment depicts the blissful union of the ill-fated lovers, Orpheus and Eurydice (Ovid, Metamorphoses, Book X, 1-65). Pursued by a son of Apollo, Eurydice was killed by a poisonous snake. Disconsolate, Orpheus followed her to the Underworld where, by the playing of his lyre, he softened the heart of Hades who agreed to allow Eurydice to return with him to earth on one condition: he should walk in front of her and not look back until they both had reached the upper world. In his anxiety he turned to look at her, and she was lost to him forever.