Danaids1.0078_Sargent

Danaids1.0078_Sargent

MFA.org
Wikimedia Commons
OGCMA s.v. "Danaids"

John Singer Sargent, 1856-1925, "The Danaïds" (1921-25), mural fresco in vault of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. Part of Sargent's "Grand Murals" series in the Rotunda of the MFA.

10 weary woman carrying vessels proceed past a large ceramic vessel. One of them women pours her jar's contents into the larger. The cistern's contents pour forth from a spout at the bottom.
Positioned near the Museum's library and paired with the image of Atlas, perpetually bearing the vault of the heavens, Sargent conveys the message that the eternal struggle for philosophical and scientific truth is a toil imposed upon the human condition.

A view of the mural in situ may be seen 29 seconds into this YouTube virtual tour.

Mural depicting women in classical robes carrying large water vessels, with children around a central urn, set in an arched ceiling

OGCMA slides are designed by Roger T. Macfarlane for use in Classical Civilization 241 courses at Brigham Young University.
The present resource contains information assembled for The Oxford Guide to Classical Mythology in the Arts, 1400 – 1990’s, edited by J. Davidson Reid (Oxford 1994), and it is used with express permission from Oxford University Press.
Address concerns or inquiries to macfarlane@byu.edu.