Description from Wiki: “The Birth of Venus (French: Naissance de Venus) is a painting by the French artist Alexandre Cabanel (1823–1889). It was painted in 1863, and is now in the Musée d’Orsay in Paris. A second and smaller version (85 x 135.9 cm) from ca. 1864 is in Dahesh Museum of Art. A third (106 x 182.6 cm) version dates from 1875; it is in the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City.
Shown to great success at the Paris Salon of 1863, The Birth of Venus was immediately purchased by Napoleon III for his own personal collection. That same year Cabanel was made a professor of the Ecole des Beaux-Arts.
Cabanel’s erotic imagery, cloaked in historicism, appealed to the propriety of the higher levels of society. Art historian and curator Robert Rosenblum wrote of Cabanel’s The Birth of Venus that “This Venus hovers somewhere between an ancient deity and a modern dream”; he described “the ambiguity of her eyes, that seem to be closed but that a close look reveals that she is awake … A nude who could be asleep or awake is specially formidable for a male viewer”.
Cabanel was a determined opponent of the Impressionists, especially Édouard Manet,[citation needed] although the refusal of the academic establishment to realize the importance of new ideas and sources of inspiration would eventually prove to be the undoing of the Academy.” via wikipedia
Image from page 8 of the journal Die Gartenlaube, 1885
Alexandre Cabanel
Above: The Flight of Icarus - Frank Frazetta
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Lament of Icarus
The paramours of courtesans Are well and satisfied, content. But as for me my limbs are rent Because I clasped the clouds as mine.
I owe it to the peerless stars Which flame in the remotest sky That I see only with spent eyes Remembered suns I knew before.
In vain I had at heart to find The center and the end of space. Beneath some burning, unknown gaze I feel my very wings unpinned
And, burned because I beauty loved, I shall not know the highest bliss, And give my name to the abyss Which waits to claim me as its own.
Artemis Dreaming artemisdreaming.tumblr.com
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I've received a few messages recently regarding the limited number of follow icons on my page. My layout will only allow a certain number and it varies from day to day. I would list each of you all of the time if it were possible. I'd like to thank you for the inspiration and support. Artemis
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![The Birth of Venus, 1863
Alexandre Cabanel
Description from Wiki: “The Birth of Venus (French: Naissance de Venus) is a painting by the French artist Alexandre Cabanel (1823–1889). It was painted in 1863, and is now in the Musée d’Orsay in Paris. A second and smaller version (85 x 135.9 cm) from ca. 1864 is in Dahesh Museum of Art. A third (106 x 182.6 cm) version dates from 1875; it is in the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City.
Shown to great success at the Paris Salon of 1863, The Birth of Venus was immediately purchased by Napoleon III for his own personal collection. That same year Cabanel was made a professor of the Ecole des Beaux-Arts.
Cabanel’s erotic imagery, cloaked in historicism, appealed to the propriety of the higher levels of society. Art historian and curator Robert Rosenblum wrote of Cabanel’s The Birth of Venus that “This Venus hovers somewhere between an ancient deity and a modern dream”; he described “the ambiguity of her eyes, that seem to be closed but that a close look reveals that she is awake … A nude who could be asleep or awake is specially formidable for a male viewer”.
Cabanel was a determined opponent of the Impressionists, especially Édouard Manet,[citation needed] although the refusal of the academic establishment to realize the importance of new ideas and sources of inspiration would eventually prove to be the undoing of the Academy.” via wikipedia](http://25.media.tumblr.com/4666101886b77b0e281e13675e3401c4/tumblr_mkur9ykqP51qc6wuio1_500.png)
