Love and Fate (Roman Courtship)
Artist
Sir William Reynolds-Stephens
(British, 1862-1943)
Date1893
MediumOil on canvas
Dimensions108 3/4 × 60 5/8 in. (276.2 × 154 cm)
ClassificationsPaintings
Credit LineGift of Seymour Lasker, 1966
Object numberSN797
In Greek mythology, Atropos was the oldest of the three fates responsible for determining a person's lifespan: after her sisters spun and measured the thread, she cut it. According to Hesiod's Theogany, Atropos and her sisters were the daughters of Nyx (Night). Her rather dark presence looming over the blissful young lovers and their protector, Cupid, is balanced by the wonderfully pure light in the painting and the blissful state of the figures. Reynolds-Stephens provides the myth's visual clues with the shears and thread contrasted by Cupid and the garland of roses.
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