First Scene of The Rhinegold
Medium
Lithograph in black with scraping on stone on grayish-ivory china paper laid down on thick cream wove paper
Dimensions
Image: 51.2 × 33.5 cm (20 3/16 × 13 1/4 in.); Primary support: 51.2 × 33.5 cm (20 3/16 × 13 1/4 in.); Secondary support: 69.7 × 49.8 cm (27 1/2 × 19 5/8 in.)
Classification
lithograph
Department
Prints and Drawings
Museum
Art Institute of Chicago
Accession Number
44013
Art Historical Context
Henri Fantin-Latour's *First Scene of The Rhine* (1876) captures a pivotal moment from Richard Wagner's groundbreaking opera cycle *Der Ring des Nibel*. The French artist, renowned for his realistic portraits and intimate still lifes, turned his talents to Wagnerian mythology in this lithograph, depicting the mystical depths of the Rhine River where the Rhinegold lies guarded by nymphs. Created amid the excitement of Wagner's first Bayreuth Festival that year, it reflects Fantin-Latour's deep admiration for the composer's epic vision, blending 19th-century Romanticism with precise draftsmanshi...
About the Artist
Henri Fantin-Latour · 1836–1904
Ignace Henri Jean Théodore Fantin-Latour was born on January 14, 1836, in Grenoble, France, to portrait painter Théodore Fantin-Latour, who gave him his earliest drawing lessons. The family relocated to Paris in 1841, where in 1850, at age 14, he enrolled in the École de Dessin, studying under Horace Lecoq de Boisbaudran, whose innovative memory-based method of drawing from observation profoundly ...