Alceste
ca. 1840
Medium
Engraving
Dimensions
Sheet (Trimmed): 8 3/16 × 5 3/8 in. (20.8 × 13.7 cm) Image: 4 7/16 × 3 1/4 in. (11.2 × 8.2 cm)
Classification
Prints
Department
Drawings and Prints
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Harris Brisbane Dick Fund, 1933
Accession Number
33.104.2445
Art Historical Context
"Alceste," an engraving from around 1840, captures a dramatic moment likely inspired by the ancient Greek myth of Alcestis, who heroically offered her life to save her husband Admetus Created by engraver Prevost after a composition by the renowned French Romantic painter Horace Vernet (1789–1863), this print Vernet's flair for theatrical history and literary subjects. Vernet, celebrated for his dynamic battle scenes and Orientalist works, infused his art with emotional intensity, bridging Neoclassicism and Romanticism during a time when France was enthralled by grand narratives from antiquity....
About the Artist
Prevost|Horace Vernet (French) · 1820 –1881
French, 1820–1881