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Mount Street Galleries
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Atalanta
( British
1861 to 1922
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Medium
Oil on Canvas
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Signed/Inscribed/Dated
Signed and Dated ‘92
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Dimensions
80.00cm wide
72.00cm high
(31.50 inches wide 28.35 inches high)
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Provenance
Private collection, Albany,Private collection, Switzerland
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Description / Expertise
Godward, like fellow Victorian classicist Alma-Tadema, was primarily interested in depicting the idealized daily life of the ancients, not in re-interpreting their great legends. However, Godward was also an admirer of Sir Frederic, Lord Leighton, and some of the monumentality characterizing the latter’s figures is clearly discernible in Atalanta. Omitting the white marble terraces, bright blue skies, and rich foliage so characteristic of most of his pictures, Godward instead opts for a dark background to accentuate the bright glow of sunlight on the figure’s yellow hood and robes.
Atalanta was born in Arcadia. She wished to live in eternal celibacy but her great comliness gained many admirers. To free herself from their importuning, she proposed a foot race. The suitors would be given a head start and she would be weighed down by carrying a dart. Whoever crossed the goal first would become her husband but all whom she overtook would be killed by her dart. One suitor, Hippomenes, was given three golden apples by Venus. As he sped away he dropped them one after another. When Atalanta came upon them she became entranced by their resplendence and stopped to pick them up. The lost time and added weight slowed her down and Hippomenes became her husband.
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