Lot Essay
This fine example of Poynter's academic style is a comparatively early work, being exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1864. This was a year before his picture Faithful unto Death (Liverpool) brought him to popular notice, and three before he scored an even greater success with Israel in Egypt (Guildhall Art Gallery). F.G. Stephens wrote in the Athenaeum that Poynter had 'treated (his) subject ... with such force, that we commend his work to all who care for Art. His Siren is not a mere meretrix, or tawdrey ballet-dancer, such as generally gets the title, but really a finely conceived figure, well, though not perfectly, drawn, with apt and poetic expressiveness in every limb, feature and accessory ... it is evident in this Siren that the grand old subjects need but the new genius to make them live again.' Thirteen years later James Dafforne, in one of the articles on contemporary artists he contributed to the Art Journal, observed that this 'nude figure of great beauty, holding a harp in her hand', had been the first of Poynter's RA pictures to gain his 'especial attention.'
Sirens were a well-worn theme in Victorian idealist painting. Frederic Leighton, Poynter's great friend and mentor, had painted a picture of The Fisherman and the Siren (inspired by Goethe) in 1856-8 (Bristol Art Gallery). Rossetti's Ligeia Siren (private collection) dates from 1873, and perhaps his Sea-Spell of 1877 (Fogg Art Museum, Harvard) should also be counted. Burne-Jones, Poynter's brother-in-law, made two handsome attempts at the subject: The Sirens (Ringling Museum of Art, Sarasota), a large canvas designed in 1870 but still unfinished at his death twenty-eight years later, and the well-known Depths of the Sea (private collection), exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1886. As for Poynter's younger contemporaries, the work of J.W. Waterhouse, H.J. Draper and Charles Shannon all furnish examples. Poynter himself returned to the theme in later life, notably in the magnificent Cave of the Storm Nymphs, exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1903 and sold in these Rooms on 25 November 1988, lot 119.
We are grateful to Alison Inglis for her help in preparing this entry.
Sirens were a well-worn theme in Victorian idealist painting. Frederic Leighton, Poynter's great friend and mentor, had painted a picture of The Fisherman and the Siren (inspired by Goethe) in 1856-8 (Bristol Art Gallery). Rossetti's Ligeia Siren (private collection) dates from 1873, and perhaps his Sea-Spell of 1877 (Fogg Art Museum, Harvard) should also be counted. Burne-Jones, Poynter's brother-in-law, made two handsome attempts at the subject: The Sirens (Ringling Museum of Art, Sarasota), a large canvas designed in 1870 but still unfinished at his death twenty-eight years later, and the well-known Depths of the Sea (private collection), exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1886. As for Poynter's younger contemporaries, the work of J.W. Waterhouse, H.J. Draper and Charles Shannon all furnish examples. Poynter himself returned to the theme in later life, notably in the magnificent Cave of the Storm Nymphs, exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1903 and sold in these Rooms on 25 November 1988, lot 119.
We are grateful to Alison Inglis for her help in preparing this entry.