3-002-770 - Heritage Art/Heritage Images

The Abduction of Orithyia, c1730. This composition, a copy of a replica of around 1730 by the great Neapolitan artist Solimena after his own earlier painting of 1701, represents a scene adapted from "The Metamorphoses," the famous poem on the loves of the gods by the 1st-century Roman author Ovid. The north wind Boreas was in love with Orithya, the daughter of the king of Athens. She refused him, and, in anger, the god abducted the frightened young woman from amid her maidens-in-waiting. Flying cupids (little gods of love) symbolize the passion that motivated Boreas. The dramatic use of flickering patches of light and shadow is characteristic of Solimena's style although the color is less intense. Copies of popular compositions were avidly bought for inclusion in decorative arrangements.