Aurora and Cephalus (c.1810): Art, History and Details

Aurora and Cephalus (c.1810) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection. The museum's creator attribution is Anne-Louis Girodet de Roucy-Trioson (French, 1767–1824).

The work and its context

The museum's open-access catalogue describes the work:

The goddess of the dawn, Aurora, fell in love with the shepherd Cephalus. She eventually seized him at daybreak, bringing him to the heavens while he slept—the scene Girodet has painted here. Later, missing his wife, Procris, Cephalus begs to return. Aurora agrees, giving him a magic spear that kills every target, including his wife, when he mistakes her for an animal in the brush.

Object facts

• Title: Aurora and Cephalus
• Date: c.1810
• Creator attribution: Anne-Louis Girodet de Roucy-Trioson (French, 1767–1824)
• Culture: France, 19th century
• Type: Painting
• Technique: oil on canvas
• Dimensions: Framed: 34.9 x 29.9 x 7 cm (13 3/4 x 11 3/4 x 2 3/4 in.); Unframed: 22.8 x 16.8 cm (9 x 6 5/8 in.)
• Collection: Mod Euro - Painting 1800-1960
• Department: Modern European Painting and Sculpture
• Accession number: 2002.101

A detail from the museum

This myth subverts typical gender dynamics: usually a man captures a woman, but in this story the trope reversed.

Collection credit

Gift of the Painting and Drawing Society of The Cleveland Museum of Art

Further reading listed by the museum

• Bellenger, Sylvain. “Aurora and Cephalus: A Story of an Acquisition.” Cleveland Studies in the History of Art 8 (2003): 188–199.
• Bellenger, Sylvain, ed. Girodet, 1767-1824. [Paris, France]: Gallimard, 2006.

View the collection record

See the museum's photographs and full catalogue entry. Catalogue text is reproduced from the Cleveland Museum of Art's open-access data, with HTML formatting removed. This object and its supplied image are designated CC0.