Art Institute of Chicago

Fingal Mourning Over the Body of Malvina, from Ossian's Berrathon

Anne-Louis Girodet de Roucy-Trioson

Date

c. 1810

Medium

Black chalk with brush and black ink and brown wash, heightened with white gouache, on ivory laid paper prepared with a gray wash

Culture

France

Department

Prints and Drawings

Institution

Art Institute of Chicago

The dazzling, otherworldly, glow-in-the-dark effect Girodet achieved in this drawing is a testament to his extraordinary skill as a draftsman and painter, and to his all-consuming desire to be original. Girodet illustrates a scene from a poem purportedly written by the ancient Scottish bard, Ossian, whose work was “discovered” and published in the 1760s. A famous literary hoax, the poems took Europe by storm. Here, Ossian’s father Fingal stands before the body of the dead Malvina, while her spirit ascends from the moonlit water behind him. Above Malvina’s body, spirits sparkle like stars.

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