The Corinthian Maid Essay

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The Corinthian Maid by Joseph the Wright of Derby, is a magnificent painting that tells a story beyond the eyes of the average viewer. In this image a woman is crouches around a sleeping man, as she leans over him, she uses a scribe to trace the outline of his silhouette onto the wall. The darkness of the rest of the room shows that it is night time while this event is taking place, as she focuses on the shadow behind the mans head. The image, due to its title, taking place in Corinth Greece depicts a detailed, iconographic image that reflects the major ideas of Europe during the turn of the 19th century. As the pieces of the painting are decoded, Joseph the wright of Derby thought about every aspect of the painting. Rendering an image that challenged the viewers knowledge and understanding of both historical myths and timely ideals.
The Corinthian Maid herself, is a beautifully depicted woman, even while her face does not look out at the viewer, her delicate touch is captured in the moment. The woman’s pale skin is illuminated, with an idealized narrow face. Her fingers are slender, and dainty compared to the males twisted right hand. She uses her right hand to etch …show more content…

The dog is a sign of loyalty and most faithful to man, however to who? It could be that the man has a great loyalty to the war that he is fighting for or that he has a great loyalty to the woman in the painting and that would be the reason for her tracing his shadow. Perhaps however the dog does not project loyalty in the man but the loyalty in the woman as she wants to capture his memory. A dog at the feet of a woman often signifies her marital fidelity, and if the woman is in fact a widow the dog can signify her faithfulness to her husband’s memory. Here it is possible that Wright of Derby is depicting a symbolic foreshadowing that the man will lose his life, and that the woman has been faithful to preserving the memory of her

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