Focus on this artwork and discuss the Description.
The painting is oval shaped, with a width of 107.5 cm and a height of 73 cm. In the foreground it depicts the naked, sleeping Antiope. She lies with her head on the left edge of the painting, twisted so that her front side faces the viewer. Her right arm is bent under her head while her left arm hangs down into the abyss in front of her. This arm covers the right breast, while the left remains free. Her legs are bent up towards the viewer, with the right continuing the line of her body at the knee while her left leg is only slightly bent to point back to the lower right of the painting. The whole body is painted in pale, warm colours and lights up the otherwise dark and earthy image. Under the sleeping woman there is a cloth, which hangs over the abyss near her breast, disappears under her arm near her head and is lifted by the satyr behind her.The satyr, whose head is crowned with grape vines symbolising the presence of the god Bacchus. lies in the opposite direction behind the woman, with the front of his body also facing the viewer. With his left arm he lifts the cloth to the height of Antiope's shoulder and it is obvious that he has just uncovered the sleeping maiden. His left arm is bent on a tree root at the right edge of the image and props up his upper body. With his head and upper body, the satyr looms over the hips of the sleeper in order to gaze upon her – he licks his lips lustfully. His body is shadowy and cannot be made out below his hips. The satyr is depicted in brown tones. His suntanned skin and muscular body forms a clear contrast with the softly worked, shapely Antiope.
The lower edge of the image is taken up by an abyss, which is depicted in dark brown tones and is edged with bare soil. On either side, gnarled roots grow in the soil, which rise into indistinct trees. The ground continues above the trees into the background, where there is a hill with lone houses. Above that is the cloudy sky, discreetly lit by the glow of twilight.
The composition fits the oval shape of the image. The sleeping Antiope forms the central horizontal, with her hips and bent legs creating the central vertical. The arms of the satyr and the legs of the woman curve in parallel with the upper edge of the painting – in this way the two central characters repeat the oval within the image, which is broken only by dangling left arm of the woman. Spatial depth is created by the stooped posture of Jupiter and by the bent knees of Antiope.
Bacchus Jupiter satyr Antiope left twilight