How does Bonaparte Before the Sphinx elucidate its Oedipus and the Sphinx?
In titling his work Oedipus, Gérôme referenced both the ancient myth and its depiction by previous artists.
In the myth, all travelers on the road to Thebes must solve a riddle posed by the Sphinx, or die.When the monster asked him: "What is it that has a voice and walks on four legs in the morning, on two at noon, and on three in the evening?" Oedipus answered that it was man, who as a child crawls on all fours, as an adult walks on two legs, and in old age uses a stick as a third leg.…The theme of [Ingres's] work is the triumph of intelligence and of human beauty. But the scene is also one of man confronting his destiny since Oedipus's exploit will lead to him becoming king of Thebes and marrying his mother Jocasta, as the oracle had predicted when he was born. It was a subject rarely portrayed from the end of the classical period until Ingres, but in the nineteenth century it came to fascinate many artists, most notably Gustave Moreau (1826-1898).
Sphinx Oedipus Gustave Moreau