Beauty and the Beast

January 14, 2007 5:36 PM

Identify this weird art please. Painting of a woman being mounted by a dog (or horse)?

I found this reproduction at an antique store today. It shows a woman on the ground in a forest being mounted by a large black animal, I can't tell if it's a dog or a horse. She's holding what appears to be a mirror in one hand. Does anyone know the artist and/or title of this painting?

It's just a painting, but given the subject matter and the boobs, I guess some would consider this NSFW. Here's a link:
http://farm1.static.flickr.com/128/357641816_d6f926b114_o.jpg

posted by RoseovSharon to media & arts (13 comments total)

I haven't a clue. But based on the the picture, I'd guess wolf over dog or horse. The elongated mouth looks more canine than equine. And in lots of old stories wolves were a handy depiction for demons or the Devil.

I very much doubt it's his work, but something about it reminds me of Edward Hicks, so it's possible you are looking at some thing from the early 1800's, or at least someone using that style.

Good luck with this one, it's an interesting question.
posted by quin at 7:10 PM on January 14, 2007

I don't know anything about the painting (though it appears to be a sort of primitivist/neo-primitivist style), but it looks more like it could be a wolf, which would make some sense, given the presence of wolves as devourers/ravishers of girls and women in Western folklore. Also, vanity was often represented allegorically by a reclining nude woman holding a mirror... so if that's the case here, then the symbolism seems pretty clear (vanity -> rape).
posted by scody at 7:10 PM on January 14, 2007

Looks a little like something out of Heironymous Bosch's The Garden of Earthly Delights; the allegorical aspect fits, too. Zoom in on this detail; you'll see a beast/woman scene at center bottom. You might want to start looking at his scenes of Hell and debauchery, although the woman seems slightly modern for his work.

Is that "Valentine Greetings To My Girlfriend" part of it? If so, creepy...
posted by mediareport at 12:08 AM on January 15, 2007

I'm going to respectfully disagree mediarereport. Bosch is too advanced for this work. The piece linked is pure folk art.

Bosch was a weirdo who also happened to have huge artistic talent. This painter is a guy who is also a weirdo, but doesn't have the same skill set. Bosch had layers worthy of interpretation. So, somewhat did Hicks (he had rage issues and painted his face on to all his animals as an outlet), this work to me, has none of those subtleties. I'm gonna guess that it is someone in the early 19th century biting on the styles of his predecessors. Interesting, but far from legendary.
posted by quin at 12:35 AM on January 15, 2007

Looks like Henri Rousseau's work, but I don't recognize it.
posted by anticlock at 12:41 AM on January 15, 2007

Just a note that quin's "interpretation" link doesn't work (access forbidden) and the main site is an utter abomination with snowflakes, flashing icons, popups, popunders, the works. Yech.
posted by Chunder at 1:21 AM on January 15, 2007

Sorry about that Chunder, it comes up for me just fine. For those curious, it was a link to to Bosch's Last Judgment image.

Hopefully available here without the same kind of problems...
posted by quin at 2:48 AM on January 15, 2007

an amateur-primitive work from 19th C, i agree; but something in the rendering of the foliage and the type and pose of the woman suggests to me a possible asian or oriental origin to the image. the dog's head is out of proprtion and seems kind of "inserted", almost as though someone was painting their favourite (least favourite?) pooch.
posted by londongeezer at 5:22 AM on January 15, 2007

19th century-early 20th century folk art (though it could be a modern imitation of the vernacular style). I'm almost positive this image is meant to depict one aspect of the Witches Sabbath. It was quite common to depict Satan as a black dog or wolf. Also, the mirror the female holds in her hand is probably a scrying mirror.
posted by Chrischris at 7:04 AM on January 15, 2007

Well thanks for all the suggestions so far... I can't believe I've been able to stump the hive mind!

Mediareport, good guess but I'm nearly positive this is not Bosch... it definitely is quite a bit more folk-artsy than that, and less European, althought it's certainly got that nightmare-ish aspect you picked up on. Oh, and the "valentine to my girl friend" part is not attached, it's something that was sitting underneath... a vintage card I think. Ironic placement, eh?!

I honestly thought this would be a relatively easy one to identify. I found it amongst a bunch of other reprints of more common artists, like a pile of Frida Kahlo, Diego Rivera, Fernando Botero and miscellaneous chicken prints. I didn't purchase it because I thought I'd come here, find out who it was by, and then probably be able to find myself a nicer copy somewhere. So much for that! Looks like I'm heading back down to that shop today, and crossing my fingers in hopes that it's still there.

I'll keep checking back here periodically in case any one comes up with answer. Thanks again!
posted by RoseovSharon at 11:19 AM on January 15, 2007

Despite the answers above that seem to disagree with the animal-as-horse theory, could it possibly be a depiction of the infamous Catherine the Great tale?
posted by MeetMegan at 7:06 PM on January 15, 2007

Thanks for that interesting tale about Catherine the Great... although again, the woman and style of this painting don't seem to be very European, so I don't think it's depicting that particular story.

At this point I've asked about this in so many different places and as of yet, no positive identification. The mystery deepens...
posted by RoseovSharon at 2:48 PM on January 17, 2007

If anyone figures this out, please do leave a comment on my flickr post for the image (as if you post it here on Ask Metafilter a year from now I probably won't notice it)... here's the link:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/roseofsharon/357641816/
posted by RoseovSharon at 1:02 PM on January 20, 2007