Aurora Taking Leave of Tithonus

1704

Medium

Oil on canvas

Dimensions

201.9 × 151.8 cm

Status

In Museum Collection

Collect24 Art ID

C24-135915

In Greek legend, Eos, or Aurora, the goddess of dawn, falls in love with the mortal Tithonus, son of King Laomedon of Troy. According to the Homeric *Hymn to Aphrodite*, Aurora prevailed on Jupiter to grant the young human immortality, though later realized that she failed to stipulate his eternal youth in this request. To her horror, as their love affair continues, the once beautiful Tithonus begins to show signs of age. Solimena illustrates a moment later in the narrative, where, preparing to leave for earth to bring about the dawn, Aurora sits on a cloud while an angel crowns her with a wreath of flowers. She looms dominantly over her aged lover, who shields his eyes from the goddess’s brightness. The goddess, pained by Tithonus’ withering appearance and failing body, eventually decided to put him out of his misery and turned him into a grasshopper, to be reminded of him whenever she heard the insect’s song. This large canvas, as well as the *[Death of Messalina](http://www.getty.edu/art/collection/objects/627/)* and *[Venus at the Forge of Vulcan](http://www.getty.edu/art/collection/objects/736/)*, also in the Getty Museum’s collection, were probably parts of a larger ens…