Pyramus and Thisbe by Gautherot: A Tragic Tale of Love and Misunderstanding
A bloody veil, a sword, and two lovers destroyed by a missed signal. Pierre Gautherot's Pyramus and Thisbe retells Ovid's tragedy of Babylonian neighbours who speak through a wall, plan an elopement, and die by misunderstanding - the lion, the stained cloak, the suicide that arrives too early and too late. Quick facts Artist: Pierre Gautherot (1769-1825) Date: n.d. Medium: Oil on canvas Notable fact: Neoclassical treatment of Ovid's tale - the same story that later echoes in Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet Pierre Gautherot, Pyramus and Thisbe . A Myth Built on a Crack in the Wall Pyramus and Thisbe love against parental ban. They whisper through a fissure, agree to meet at Ninus's tomb, and lose each other to chance: Thisbe flees a lion; Pyramus finds her bloodied veil and kills himself; she returns and follows. Gautherot inherits a story already famous for tragic timing. Neoclassical Clarity for Chaos of Feeling Neoclassicism likes clear bodies ...