Ekphrasis: Gerard & Longus

 Daphnis and Chloe

François Gérard

    After perusing both my art history books and google image I have settled up this tantalizing oil painting by the Neoclassical painter Francois Gerard. This painting is considered a history painting because of the story it is retelling, the story of Daphnis and Chloe that we have all grown familiar with. To me Gerard does an excellent job of capturing both the innocence and the lust, which the young blossoming relationship encapsulates. This painting does nothing to enlighten readers on the actual story, but it non the less transfixed me, most likely because I already know the story and this gave me the imagery I was craving . It is as though Gerard took the mental storyboard I had created and gave me a few scenes of it in just one painting.

   "Because absolutely no one has escaped Love, and no one will escape him as long as there is beauty and as long as there are eyes to see with" (pg 137, Daphnis and Chloe). 

     This quote struck me for a few reasons, one is that Love is masculine, which is odd only because it is normally given feminine qualities. In this painting I feel that Gerard may have been reflecting on this line, by giving Daphnis a red cloak draping over his naked body. red is a very sensual and lustful color and it is definitely where the viewers eye is first drawn to. A second reason I feel this quote and this painting go together is because of Chloe's closed eyes. She is clearly in love with Daphnis at this point and even though her eyes are painted closed it is as though she is in a dream or trance where she is thinking of herself with Daphnis. She also looks very at peace and she is not at all at unrest, Daphnis provides her the blanket of love that she can rest comfortably in. As far as the story goes, neither one o f the young lovers can escape their feelings, Chloe is struck first by Daphnis's beauty and he not long after, the painting makes it hard to discern if this is at the point when they both have realized their love or when just Chloe does, but in the end it doesn't really matter because neither can escape Love. 

    This painting is a history painting by definition of genre, but it does seem to be lacking some sheep or goats, nymphs or Pan. Still even with this narrative omission, I cannot help to see the beauty of the romantic love story that Gerard is depicting. His Neoclassical style makes the classical painting of Daphnis's body fit Longus's description of how Chloe first realized her feelings, when she sees him naked bathing in the cave. This may be shortly after that first sighting, as she is helping him dry off. That may be another reason why I like this painting and think it fits the story so well, because I can see it fitting into many different points of the story. Just like the story there are many different levels and elements that make it appealing to me, Gerard has created a painting that has many levels and phases that make it equally appealing and pleasing to me.