Hélène

Fantin-Latour, Henri, 1836-1904 · 1890

In the center of the composition, Helen lies naked on a white drapery. Her head is raised and held slightly by the finger of her left hand. She faces forward and her eyes are lost and full of dreams. Around her is a crowd of men who are charmed by her beauty. They are all geniuses and of all ages - a warrior wearing a helmet, a poet with a laurel head, a bald philosopher, a scholar who meditates, a painter who draws, an old man who lies down in adoration. Faust is standing on the left and beside him, in the foreground, is Mephistopheles. A cupid flies away and an adolescent angel, whose head is only visible, arrives from the left. The scene takes place in an elevated landscape. There is a curtain of trees that serve as the background. The pale disc of the moon shines above. On the right is an immense horizon where the waters of a winding river is seen. (Subject freely borrowed from Goethe's second Faust)