Jean Raoux, Orpheus and Eurydice, 1709

Orpheus bravely prances down into the Underworld, playing his enchanted violin for the Queen of Hades, Proserpina, and winning the freedom of his beloved Eurydice. But there is a one stipulation: Orpheus cannot look at Eurydice until they reach the upper world, or else Eurydice will disappear back into the Underworld. Upon his first sighting of earthly light, Orpheus looks to his lady only to find that she has not yet crossed the threshold to the upper world and she vanishes. Good thing he dies later and his soul goes to the Underworld, and he's reunited with his woman? I can't tell what emotion that's supposed to make me feel. 

The way Raoux paints the gleeful part of the story, after Eurydice is released and they blow that overly-heated Popsicle stand like newlyweds, is almost theatrical in its rendition. The lighting on the happy couple resembles stage light, darkening the rest of the scene in contrast, and the positioning of the other characters draws a tight circle around the two. This circle is open-ended, with Orpheus's violin-laden hand gesturing for the two to get out of there and pushing the scene to the right. The painting seems especially compressed because it was cut down on all sides in the early twentieth century, leaving an almost claustrophobic scene in its wake...if not for the joyful scene inside.

Hades lurks in the back next to his woman, both of them looking a little smug. The Three Fates, clique-ish but beautiful, foreshadow Orpheus's future unhappiness because of his overzealous eyes. Perhaps the OCD part of me is overreacting, but I was completely grossed out to see that bald man reaching for the nicely- arranged fruit on the ground of the Underworld. Of all places to leave food, that is up there as one of the worst possible places. I know they symbolize giving wealth back to humanity, "the fruits of their labor," but it's unsanitary.