Brawlin' Broads: The Death of Orpheus

Emile Bin
Émile Bin, The Death of Orpheus, 1874
Brawlin' Broads
By Bhux

In his 1874 work, The Death of Orpheus, Bin focuses on Orpheus, an iconic member of Greek mythology. Bin primarily worked in France and Reims as a decorative artist for hotels, but also gained acclaim through his portrayal of mythological scenes. Here he shows the brutal murder of Orpheus by jealous women. Orpheus is most famous for his tragic love of Eurydice. Many people know the story of his wife dying and getting to come back - if only he does not look back when they escape the underworld. He looks back and she vanishes forever. 


After this event, Orpheus swore off woman and instead chose to cope with his grief through music. Known as the "first pederast," he strictly took on male lovers, which created fervid jealousy among women. Finially, a group of women from Thrace attacks and murders the grieving man. They tore his limbs apart and threw them in a river. His head sang as it floated down the river. The emotional scene depicting in this painting shows a range of feeling. From passion, lust, and fear, Bin dramatizes each on the characters' faces. He heavily stylizes the event to induce drama, intensity, and emotion. The women violently attack, looking determined and a little giddy. One woman aggressively holds Orpheus's head back as she prepares to decapitate him with a sickle while Orpheus looks to the heavens helplessly. Bin's rendition of the vengeful murder uses fluid movement, bright colors, and defined human forms to bring the painting to life as he captures the dramatic moment directly before the murder.
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The Death of Orpheus

1870
Henri Leopold Lévy,  The Death of Orpheus, 1870

The tale of Orpheus goes thusly: spawn of Apollo and Calliope, Orpheus had a supernatural gift for music. With his sick tunes he tamed wild animals, wooed women, and drowned out the cries of the Sirens. Orpheus marries Eurydice, and then, on the same day, Eurydice steps in a viper pit and dies. Lyre in hand, Orpheus descends to the Underworld and makes a deal with Hades. Eurydice may return with Orpheus, but only if Orpheus can lead the way without once looking back at his wife. He fails. Eurydice fades back into the Underworld, this time as a permanent resident. Myths abound describing the nature of Orpheus's death. In the thralls of grief he kills himself, or Zeus strikes him down with lightning. Two fit with this painting: one, he is torn apart by female followers of Dionysus, called Maenads, because Orpheus refused to worship.  In the other, Orpheus has sworn off women, and an angry mob of would-be lovers murder him for it.

In the distance, Orpheus's killers rejoice. The head, divorced from his body, lies at the center. While pale and deathly, a slight yellow glow radiates from it, and his body clings still to his lyre. Even in death, he lives on. Through his music, through his legend. Doves flit over the corpse, representing the purity and devotion of the musician. Despite the naturally grotesque subject of the painting, Lévy minimizes the gore. Orpheus's head leaks only a few red brushstrokes, and the body, while grayed with death, has no contortion about it, but stretches gracefully on the shore, as if in sleep. His eyes are not open in terror, nor his mouth agape with fear. He has peace in death, because he knows who waits below.

Compositionally, Lévy's piece centers on the head. The two streams cross exactly at that point, and the brightest colors revolve around Orpheus's decapitated dome. The bottom river creates a diagonal, further dividing body from head. While the body may have stopped moving, the head, symbolizing the soul, has one journey left.

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