Artwork Information

This has been described as a personal allegory for Fuseli. Beauty (Aphrodite) is taking the artist (Paris) away from his struggles in London to the invigorating stimulation and wonders of Rome (Helen). The walls behind the figures are derived from engravings by Giovanni Battista Piranesi, who became a great admirer of Fuseli, placing his name on one of the tombs in an engraving of the Appian Way. The pose of the two figures comes from those of Castor and Eriphyle on the Meidias Vase (c410–400 BC) in the British Museum in London.