Mythological Women
Edward Burne-Jones | 1863–9 Odysseus' ships are just visible on the horizon as Circe laces wine with a magic potion before a table already set for a feast. The two powerful panthers at left are victims already transfigured by Circe's magic representing her fierce predatory power: her crouched posture and intense eyes mirror the strength and danger rippling through the panthers' muscled forms and snarling mouths.
John William Waterhouse | 1891 Circe is portrayed here just as Odysseus approaches the enchantress in order to free his crew from her spell. However, rather than occupying same plane as Circe, Odysseus is relegated to an exterior position – visible only in Circe's mirror. The viewer thus becomes Odysseus, facing a direct confrontation with a commanding femme fatale; Circe confronts us directly, enthroned in a position of power, brandishing the implements of her magic with swine at her feet. §
John William Waterhouse | 1892 Here Circe is shown in her full power as she casts a transforming spell. However, Circe's victim is not Odysseus and his men but Scylla, a nymph with whom Glaucus, the sea god, had fallen in love. When Glaucus rejected Circe, the enraged sorceress mixed a potion to transform the beautiful nymph into a monster. Waterhouse depicts level-eyed Circe pouring her transformative cocktail into Scylla's cove in a canvas saturated with green – the color of envy. §
Edward Burne-Jones | 1863–9 Odysseus' ships are just visible on the horizon as Circe laces wine with a magic potion before a table already set for a feast. The two powerful panthers at left are victims already transfigured by Circe's magic representing her fierce predatory power: her crouched posture and intense eyes mirror the strength and danger rippling through the panthers' muscled forms and snarling mouths.
Mythology is strewn with women who utilized their feminine attractions to lure men to their downfalls. From mythologized real-life rulers like Cleopatra to the skilled sorceress Circe, artists from the late nineteenth century found inspiration in these women to express seduction and allure beside potent, threatening power.
CIRCE
Circe was an all-powerful, incredibly beautiful, extremely seductive enchantress in Greek mythology whose powers literally turned men into animals; after luring men to her home, she would transform them into beasts using her deft knowledge of herbs, magic, and potions.
In the Odyssey, when Odysseus and his men came to her island Circe invited them to a grand, welcoming feast which was secretly laced with a potion to turn Odysseus' men to swine. She then kept Odysseus as a lover for a year.
Artists of the fin de siècle depicted Circe as a striking beauty as well as a daunting, predatory challenge to the men who faced her.
Frederick Sandys | 1866–1868 Unlike many portrays of femmes fatales, Sandys' Medea is fully clothed rather than suggestively revealed. Rather than seducing men with her beauty, Medea attracted and decimated them with her knowledge and skill. Here she is a passionate, frightening sorceress clasping her blood-red necklace and concocting a deadly potion. Sandys emphasizes Medea's psychological state and emotion; on the walls behind her are reminders of her past sacrifices and acts. §
Herbert Draper | 1904 As the Argo fled Colchis with the golden fleece, Aeëtes' ships rapidly approached; to outrun the fleet, Medea hacked off the limbs of her younger brother Apsyrtus and threw them into the sea one by one so her father would be forced to collect his body. Draper depicts Medea dramatically and forcefully commanding the scene, ordering without hesitation that her brother be cast into the sea. Oele suggests Draper found the original details too gruesome to depict.
Paul Cezanne | 1882 Unlike Sandys' painting, Cezanne presents Medea classically draped. Her seated pose with two children upon her lap and at her feet is reminiscent of images like Raphael's Madonnas and Child with St. John the Baptist – however, its content is in striking opposition to a benevolent Mary. Medea clasps a knife along with her contorted children in a composition characterized by evocatively darkened outlines and sharp splashes of color.
Frederick Sandys | 1866–1868 Unlike many portrays of femmes fatales, Sandys' Medea is fully clothed rather than suggestively revealed. Rather than seducing men with her beauty, Medea attracted and decimated them with her knowledge and skill. Here she is a passionate, frightening sorceress clasping her blood-red necklace and concocting a deadly potion. Sandys emphasizes Medea's psychological state and emotion; on the walls behind her are reminders of her past sacrifices and acts. §
Medea, the niece of Circe, was a manipulative femme fatale and powerful sorceress who went to great lengths to bring ruin to those whose goals were not aligned with her own. After extensive killing through both sorcery and tenacity during the journey of the Argo, Medea became incensed when Jason abandoned her for Glauce and killed a slew of people, Glauce included, before killing two of her children in revenge for Jason's actions. These murders were followed by more, including an attempted poisoning of Theseus and the murder of her usurping uncle.
For fin de siècle artists, the story of Medea was a source of endless inspiration for depicting the 'evil woman' linked to the femme fatale theme.
MEDEA
Though not an 'intentional' femme fatale like Circe, Helen of Troy's unsurpassable beauty and allure made her so desirable that Paris chose her over the offer to be made ruler of all Europe and Asia and the offer to be made unmatchable in war and battle. Her subsequent abduction sparked the most legendary war in all of antiquity.
Because she was not directly responsible for the deaths of thousands of men and because she had no cruel intentions, Helen is cast as a 'blameless' femme fatale.
Depictions of Helen portray her as a remarkable beauty on the periphery of destruction and carnage rather than as an intimidating, imposing presence directly challenging her viewers.
HELEN
D.G. Rossetti | 1863 In this depiction of the incendiary femme fatale, Helen engages the viewer with misty eyes as Troy goes up in flames behind her. She points to a fiery symbol round her neck; her red lips, glinting golden hair and rich orange and scarlet-streaked clothing emphasize the raging destruction that has become woven into her existence. Many have suggested that Helen is fantasizing the scene behind her (†). Does she harbor intentions of calamity? Rossetti seems to suggest so.
Gustave Moreau | 1886 Moreau depicts Helen in full splendor in this pyramidally-arranged composition. She is flanked on either side by battle-clad warriors in awe, distracted by her beauty from the tumult and destruction raging below. Helen's flawless skin and relaxed pose are reminiscent of classical nudes while her halo-like corona suggests an apotheosis or assumption scene; the rich tones of deep blue and gold accentuate the lavish drama of each of these genres.
Gustave Moreau | n.d. The calamity and destruction of war is depicted in expressive daubs of browns and reds around the Scaean Gate as Helen identifies the soldiers below to Trojan elders and leaders. In contrast to the removed, idealized figure of Moreau's Helen Glorified, this depiction emphasizes Helen's direct link to the violence surrounding her, casting the femme fatale in the same hues as the battle rather than the jeweled tones of idolization.
D.G. Rossetti | 1863 In this depiction of the incendiary femme fatale, Helen engages the viewer with misty eyes as Troy goes up in flames behind her. She points to a fiery symbol round her neck; her red lips, glinting golden hair and rich orange and scarlet-streaked clothing emphasize the raging destruction that has become woven into her existence. Many have suggested that Helen is fantasizing the scene behind her (†). Does she harbor intentions of calamity? Rossetti seems to suggest so.
Cleopatra certainly did exist in history. However, her status as an enchantingly beautiful, sophisticated, passionate, and powerful ruler has elevated the queen to a legendary position among these mythical femmes fatales.
Cleopatra frequently appeared in pictures and literature from the fin de siècle. One element artists and writers embraced and emphasized was the legend of Cleopatra seducing Roman generals and having the men killed on the spot the next morning:
"[M]any were delighted at the link the Egyptian queen made between sex and death:
Ah Cleopâtre! Je comprends maintenant pourquoi tu faisais tuer, le matin, l'amant avec qui tu avais passé la nuit. Sublime cruauté... grande voluptueuse, comme tu connaissais la nature humaine, et qu'il ya de profondeur dans cette barbarie!*
For writers like Theóphile Gautier, Cleopatra was the ultimate woman. Her beauty and her personality were so alluring that a man would gladly sacrifice his life in exchange for the supreme pleasure of spending one night with her" (Oele, 78).
CLEOPATRA
Gustave Moreau | 1887 Moreau here portrays Cleopatra similarly to his depiction of Helen in Helen Glorified. Seated atop a throne in regal garb, Cleopatra is shown as an alluring, beautiful, and exotic idol. She looks over her kingdom in full profile with eyes cast to the horizon as though inviting the viewer to survey not only her figure, but her vast power as well.
Cleopatra Trying Out Poison to the Condemned Alexandre Cabanel | 1887 Cabanel's Cleopatra is both alluring and fatal. Again shown topless in exotic clothing, she languidly reclines while gazing disinterestedly over the agonized, dying men at left. Though it is unclear who these men are, fin de siècle audiences eagerly identified them as the queen's spent lovers. §
Sir Lawrence Alma-Tadema | 1883 Cleopatra, shown in a lavishly furnished and decorated boat, waits, again reclining, for Antony's arrival. Alma-Tadema depicts Cleopatra as an exquisitely beautiful woman; flowers and drapery emphasize her femininity. However, the cheetah-skin wrapped around her torso – its face and bared fangs directly alongside Cleopatra's own – as well as the scepters (or perhaps weapons) grasped firmly in each of her hands bely her fatal power.
Gustave Moreau | 1887 Moreau here portrays Cleopatra similarly to his depiction of Helen in Helen Glorified. Seated atop a throne in regal garb, Cleopatra is shown as an alluring, beautiful, and exotic idol. She looks over her kingdom in full profile with eyes cast to the horizon as though inviting the viewer to survey not only her figure, but her vast power as well.
§ (Oele, pg. 96–98)
†Taylor
* English: "Ah Cleopatra! I understand now why you killed, that morning, the lover with whom you had passed the night. Sublime cruelty... great pleasure-seeker, how you know human nature, and that there is depth in this barbarism!"
Special thanks to the wonderful Diana Harmata for her assistance in translating French throughout this project.