Helena and Hermia, Edward John Poynter
Link is to a zoomable version on the Google Art Project; downloadable file on Wikimedia Commons; original is in the Art Gallery of South Australia.
Victorian painter Edward Poynter gives us a beautiful and sensitive portrayal of the characters from Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream.
At once idealized and naturalistic, the sumptuous marble and tile — that form a stage of sorts for the two women — are set against lush foliage and tree bark through which we glimpse a backdrop of distant mountains across a darkened sea.
