L'Or du Rhin -- Les Filles du Rhin
Medium
lithograph
Classification
Department
CG-E
Museum
National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.
Credit
Corcoran Collection (Bequest of Frank B. Bristow)
Accession Number
2015.143.133
Art Historical Context
Henri Fantin-Latour's *L'Or du Rhin -- Filles du Rhin*1886) is a captivating lithograph that evokes the mythical allure of Richard Wagner's epic opera cycle *Der Ring des Nungen*. Depicting the ethereal Rhinemaidens guarding the Rhinegold, this print captures a pivotal moment from the story's prelude, where the daughters of the Rhine river playfully yet fatefully lose their treasure to the dwarf Alberich. Fantin-Latour, a French Realist master known for his intimate portraits and still lifes, turned to Wagner's music dramas in the 1880s, producing a series of 21 lithographs that blend fantasy ...
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 ...