Ernst Oskar Simonson-Castelli

ERNST OSKAR SIMONSON-CASTELLI (Dresden, 1864-1929).
"Hero and Leander."
Oil on canvas.
Signed in the lower right corner.
Measurements: 103 x 131 cm; 119.5 x 148.5 cm (frame).

The oil painting represents the myth of Hero and Leandro in a symbolic and evocative way, showing Hero lying naked by the sea with her arm extended towards the horizon, a gesture that suggests both the luminous signal with which she guided Leandro and the anxious waiting or contemplation after her death; the sea symbolizes the distance and the tragic fate of the lover who drowns while trying to cross it, while the dark cypresses in the background evoke mourning and the flowers surrounding the body allude to love and its transience, creating a scene more focused on emotion, loss and desire than on the narrative action of the myth.

The myth of Hero and Leander tells the story of two young lovers who lived on opposite shores of the Straits of Hellespont: Hero was a priestess of Aphrodite in Sestos, forced to remain a virgin, and Leander lived in Abydos. Every night, Leander swam across the sea guided by a lamp that Hero lit on top of a tower to guide him; but one stormy night the wind extinguished the light, Leander lost his way and drowned. Finding his lifeless body on the shore, Hero, desperate with grief, threw herself from the tower into the sea, joining him in death. It is a myth that symbolizes passionate and tragic love, stronger than rules and fate.

Ernst Oskar Simonson-Castelli was a German painter born and died in Dresden; son of the painter David Simonson, he studied at the Dresden Academy of Art with Ferdinand Pauwels, continued his training in Munich with Gotthardt Kuehl and at the Académie Julian in Paris with Jules Duprés, made numerous study trips through Europe and in 1893 established himself as an independent artist in Dresden, adopting from 1898 the combined surname Simonson-Castelli, directing the painting academy founded by his father, receiving several distinctions (such as medals and the title of professor at the Academy of Urbino) during his career.