Neoclassicism

Anne-Louis Girodet

Endymion. Effet de lune

1791

Oil on canvas, 78 × 102 3/4 in. Musée du Louvre, Paris

A moonlit sleeping youth: the clear classical nude turned toward mystery and mood.

Look at

• A single shaft of pale light falls diagonally through the leaves onto the body; the rest is deep shadow.
• The body is smooth and soft-edged, with little of David's hard outline.
• Apart from one muted rose cloth, colour is held to silvery flesh, browns and dark greens, so the picture reads as night.

• Painted in Rome in 1791 as a student's required work sent to Paris; shown at the Salon of 1793.
• The State bought it in 1818 together with two other Girodets, 50,000 francs for the three.

Image: Wikimedia Commons · CC0