PrometheusBound1.0006

PrometheusBound1.0006_Etty

Prometheus bound to a rock, pierced by an arrow, with a fiery sky in the background

"...The development of [the Prometheus Bound myth] largely ossified during the 19th century. While on the one hand Rubens' configuration of 'P. bound' ... not only remained canonical but became an icon that was repeatedly, esp. in French art, exploited in political allegory ..., on the other hand P[rometheus]' separation from his own myth was already becoming evident in art history from the 1820s, as directly symbolized in William Etty's painting P[rometheus].... In fact, Etty was still operating entirely in the tradition of the Tityus iconography. P. hangs off the rock lyring on his back. As in Rubens, the figure is draped across a background cloth like a model. But the remainder of the scene is stripped of all mythical residue, apart from the arrow, which although it can be assigned to Heracles, has not here killed the eagle, but P. himself. The vision of the corpse of P. is new, and in it, the question of a meaningful pictorial tradition of the figure is dismissed. The sufferings of P. may have found their end, but he has not risen triumphant from them. He has not even been freed." P. Theisohn, s.v. "Prometheus" in RMM, 565-66.