Apr 7, 2020
Oreads by Annie Louisa Swynnerton. British, exhibited 1907. Oil on canvas. Tate Collection.
From the Tate:
This probably illustrates a scene in the ancient Greek poem Dionysiaca. Zeus, god of the sky, has flooded the earth. The oreads (mountain spirits) are forced to seek safety on higher ground. A rainbow suggests the storm is ending, although we are left to wonder if the figure glimpsed on the lower right will survive.
In 1922 Annie Swynnerton became the first woman to be elected to the Royal Academy of Arts in over 150 years. Swynnerton was also involved with the struggle for women’s rights. Some of her sitters and supporters were leading figures in the suffrage movement.
