In Giovanni Antonio Burrini’s presented painting, a young man is portrayed in a state of slumber against the backdrop of a moonless, cloudy night. Hovering above him is a female figure, characterized by pale skin and rosy cheeks, holding a quiver full of arrows and a bow in her hand. With unwavering attention on the sleeping youth, she extends her hand towards Cupid’s arrow, leaving no room for doubt that the painting encapsulates an act of love.
The title explicitly declares that the painting portrays Diana and Endymion, but who are they?
I first encountered the mythical tale of Diana and Endymion in high school, and it has remained etched in my memory ever since. As implied by the crescent moon hovering over her hair, Diana is a lunar deity, and in Roman mythology, she is also known as the goddess of hunting and fertility.
According to Pliny the Elder, Endymion was an astronomer and the first human to observe the moon, doing so with such passion and zeal that no detail about it eluded him. Overwhelmed by Endymion’s beauty during a nocturnal visit when he was asleep, Diana pleaded with Zeus to grant Endymion eternal life so that their love could endure. Employing the capricious nature that defines ancient gods, Zeus responded to Diana’s request by subjecting Endymion to an endless slumber. Unperturbed by Zeus’s action and still deeply in love, Diana would ride her moon chariot to visit Endymion once a month, leaving the sky without a moon.
This is the story I grew up knowing, but years later, I discovered that there is no general consensus about Endymion’s identity and the perpetual sleep that has befallen him. In his book “The Greek Myths,” Robert Graves mentions that Zeus either punished Endymion in this manner due to suspicions about an affair between him and Hera – Zeus’s wife – or it was Endymion’s own choice, a gift from Zeus who granted him everlasting youth and the ability to sleep whenever and for as long as he wished.
The latter interpretation is vividly represented in a painting of Diana and Endymion by Giovanni Battista Innocenzo Colombo, where Endymion is depicted awake and gazing directly at Diana.
Regardless of the version one chooses to accept, the myth is commonly perceived as an allegory of platonic love, where spiritual attraction precedes and, in this case, even surpasses physical lust.
However, examining paintings of Diana and Endymion reveals an interesting observation regarding the portrayal of each character.
In feminist theory, there is a concept known as the ‘male gaze,’ which refers to female objectification in the visual arts. The theory emphasizes that women have been repeatedly depicted in ways to make them appear vulnerable, desired, seductive, and subjugated. The intention behind women’s degrading representation is none other than to please the male viewer, collector, or, in more recent centuries, even the male consumer.
Consider Guido Reni’s painting “Susannah and the Elders” as an illustration. Susannah is predominantly unclothed and averts direct eye contact, thereby avoiding a confrontation with the viewer. Simultaneously, she shyly attempts to cover herself with a lustrous garment in a manner that reinforces her vulnerability and submissiveness.
The aforementioned painting is just one among countless other examples that perpetuate this image. From Botticelli’s “Birth of Venus” to lingerie advertisements, women are often represented in ways that conform to this pattern.
However, upon comparing Francesco Solimena’s painting of the mythical couple Diana and Endymion to Jacob van Loo’s rendition of “Susannah and the Elders,” we are surprised to discover striking similarities between Endymion and Susannah. Both figures are depicted in the nude, with only a small part of their bodies concealed by a red satin sheet. Simultaneously, their pale skin and rosy cheeks suggest health and youth, enhancing their attractiveness and, perhaps, making them seductive due to their irresistible allure.
Certainly, in Francesco Solimena’s “Diana and Endymion,” the elements of the male gaze are not attributed to the female but the male subject. Observe how Endymion is depicted in contrast to Diana in Solimena’s painting. She is fully dressed, sitting above him in a way that implies superiority. On the other hand, he is unaware of being watched and fully exposed to Diana and the viewer’s ‘gaze.’
Therefore, has the painter intentionally tried to capture the power of the female character from the story? Is Endymion painted in a way to appeal to the female gaze, or are we simply witnessing a stereotypical female nude disguised in the form of a man?
Considering that the male gaze concept and feminist artworks emerged for the first time over three centuries after the painting in question, and that female patrons in the Renaissance – though existent – were rare, it appears to be more likely that Solimena did not paint Endymion this way for any other reason than to appear irresistibly alluring to a deity. Consequently, with what is considered desirable being predefined by a tradition of the female nude through the eyes of men, Endymion’s appearance is arguably the result of an artist merely following a pattern that had proven to work.
Nevertheless, the undeniable focus on Diana and her eminence that almost all paintings of the mythical couple display could potentially stem from the origin of the myth. The story was originally written by the female lyric poet Sappho, who resided in the Greek island Lesbos during the sixth century BC. Sappho’s love and respect for other women in her community, evident in her poetry, transcended into all variations of the story and the paintings made to illustrate it too.
Next time you are visiting a museum, try to observe how women have been depicted in art throughout history. What are the differences and similarities of female representation that you can notice from one art movement to another, and what conclusions can you draw from these observations?