Details
Pyke Koch (1901-1991)

Daphne

signed with initials lower right P.K., oil and tempera on canvas
53 x 30.5 cm

Executed circa 1946
Literature
Exh.cat. Pyke Koch, Gemeente Museum Arnhem, 1966, ill. p. 11
Carel Blotkamp, Pyke Koch, Amsterdam, 1972, p. 100. no. 37
Exh.cat. Pyke Koch, Institut Néerlandais, Paris, 1982, ill. 24
L. van Tilborgh, 'freudian motifs in the oeuvre of Pyke Koch', Simiolus, vol. 15, no. 2, 1984, p. 149 (ill.), p. 150
Exhibited
Venetië, XXV Biennale di Venezia, 8 June - 15 October 1950, no. 45
Maastricht, ten huize van T.J. Botke, Pyke Koch, September 1951
Amsterdam, Stedelijk Museum, Pyke Koch, 16 December 1955 - 16 January 1956
Hengelo, Hengelose Kunstzaal, Het Magisch Realisme, 10 December 1956 - 4 January 1966, no. 12
Arnhem, Gemeentemuseum, Pyke Koch, schilderijen, 4 June - 5 September 1966, no. 18

Lot Essay

The tale of the God Apollo and the nymph Daphne, as we know it today finds its origin in the Ovid's Metamorphoses.
The nymph Daphne was the daughter of the rivergod Nereus.
According to Ovid, Cupid struck Apollo with a golden arrow, the sort that kindles love, and Daphne with a leaden one that puts love to flight. The god pursued the unwilling girl and, when she had no more strength to flee, she prayed to her father to save her. Whereupon branches sprouted from her arms, roots grew from her feet and she was changed into a laurel tree.
The theme of Daphne and Apollo has a long tradition in the art of painting. The painters of the Italian Renaissance, in particular, have used this theme over and over again.
The style in which Koch has painted his Daphne is reminiscent of the style of his Italian predecessors, for example the capricious landscape and the way in which the leaves, the hair and the body have been painted. In the iconography Koch deviates slightly from the tradition. Apollo, who is usually depicted in despair, is in this painting not present at all. By doing this, Koch puts the dramatic accent on the woman's figure and her union with nature.
In 1947 Koch made another painting of Daphne. (Blotkamp op.cit. no. 38). In this version she has not been painted in full length; it here concerns a very penetrating portrait.
According to Louis v. Tilborgh, Koch's fascination for Daphne stems from his preference for the theme of the erotically unattainable woman which has a central place in Koch's oeuvre. (L. v. Tilborgh, op.cit. p. 150)

See colour illustration

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