The Awakening of Psyche 1904

Guillaume Seignac captured this mythological scene, most likely in oil paint. The rosy flesh tones and hazy light speak of a painterly tradition going back centuries. Looking at it now, I can only imagine what it might have been like to be Seignac, so immersed in this world of Greco-Roman ideals, where beauty was law. The roses, the marble column, the carefully arranged drapery, and that leopard skin rug: they all contribute to a sense of luxurious fantasy. And then there’s Psyche herself, waking, stretching, her blue butterfly wings so light they almost float away. She's caught in the act of being, caught in the moment of awakening, her body all softness and curves. You can tell that Seignac paid close attention to her hands. The tilt of her head, the sweep of her hair, they all feel like they took time to construct, to make ‘just so’. It’s easy to judge this kind of picture nowadays, but I wonder if the Pre-Raphaelites, or even Manet, might not have seen something interesting in this painter's dedication to the figure.