# Can you help me identify this painting? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [April 8, 2010, 12:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-help-me-identify-this-painting/535397 "2010-04-08T12:42:32Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![FlyingRamenMonster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ce7236/32.png) [@FlyingRamenMonster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FlyingRamenMonster)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2010, 12:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-help-me-identify-this-painting/535397/1 "2010-04-08T12:42:32Z")
I saw a painting a few days back that I attempted to make a mental note of and failed. Here’s what I remember: it was a classical piece of what I seem to recall were mythical figures, and featured a guy with an unconscious woman slung over his shoulder. Oh, and the woman was really pale. Does this ring any bells for anyone? ---
**Author:** ![Squink](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5e925/32.png) [@Squink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Squink)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2010, 1:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-help-me-identify-this-painting/535397/2 "2010-04-08T13:00:53Z")
[Botticelli](http://images.google.com/images?q=botticelli&oe=utf-8&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a&um=1&ie=UTF-8&ei=VtO9S9KhFIO8lQfW7oGOBw&sa=X&oi=image_result_group&ct=title&resnum=1&ved=0CBUQsAQwAA)’s popular this spring. Does the piece look like it could be his? ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2010, 1:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-help-me-identify-this-painting/535397/3 "2010-04-08T13:12:24Z")
Could it be [this](http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.digitalcrocker.org/DCG/d/26127-2/abduction1.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.digitalcrocker.org/DCG/v/AmCal19thCentury/abduction1.jpg/en&usg=__cmis5kAOJz2DhE1QEl4CwOH_4dw=&h=640&w=498&sz=77&hl=en&start=38&um=1&itbs=1&tbnid=FVctfPwFH9Ha_M:&tbnh=137&tbnw=107&prev=/images%3Fq%3Drape%2Bof%2Bthe%2Bsabines%26start%3D20%26um%3D1%26hl%3Den%26safe%3Doff%26client%3Dfirefox-a%26sa%3DN%26rls%3Dorg.mozilla:en-US:official%26channel%3Ds%26ndsp%3D20%26tbs%3Disch:1)? ---
**Author:** ![FlyingRamenMonster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ce7236/32.png) [@FlyingRamenMonster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FlyingRamenMonster)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2010, 1:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-help-me-identify-this-painting/535397/4 "2010-04-08T13:17:03Z")
Ah, no, the style looked like it was relatively modern. It kind of resembled a Waterhouse painting, actually. The woman’s skin was really luminescent, like this: [http://brightestblue.files.wordpress.com/2009/06/john\_william\_waterhouse\_-\_hylas\_and\_the\_nymphs\_1896-790677.jpg](http://brightestblue.files.wordpress.com/2009/06/john_william_waterhouse_-_hylas_and_the_nymphs_1896-790677.jpg). The background was quite dark. The man _may_ have been standing on stone steps. There _may_ have been foliage in the background. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2010, 2:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-help-me-identify-this-painting/535397/5 "2010-04-08T14:05:07Z")
Since this is about art, it is better for Cafe Society than General Questions. Colibri General Questions Moderator ---
**Author:** ![choie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/choie/32/7829_2.png) [@choie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/choie)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2010, 2:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-help-me-identify-this-painting/535397/6 "2010-04-08T14:32:10Z")
Where did you see it? Real life or on the web? Could it be Cezanne’s [The Abduction](http://www.paul-cezanne.org/The-Abduction.html)? ---
**Author:** ![FlyingRamenMonster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ce7236/32.png) [@FlyingRamenMonster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FlyingRamenMonster)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2010, 3:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-help-me-identify-this-painting/535397/7 "2010-04-08T15:03:52Z")
That’s not it, but it’s closer. Edit: I saw it on Wikipedia, but I keep a very short history so I can’t find it again. ---
**Author:** ![FlyingRamenMonster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ce7236/32.png) [@FlyingRamenMonster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FlyingRamenMonster)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2010, 9:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-help-me-identify-this-painting/535397/8 "2010-04-11T09:05:58Z")
Bumping this in the hopes that someone has some idea. ---
**Author:** ![Horatio\_Hellpop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e5b9ba/32.png) [@Horatio\_Hellpop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatio_Hellpop)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2010, 10:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-help-me-identify-this-painting/535397/9 "2010-04-11T10:14:51Z")
It sounds a bit like one of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood artists of the late 1800s, maybe even [this](http://www.artmagick.com/images/content/millais/med/millais16.jpg). ---
**Author:** ![FlyingRamenMonster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ce7236/32.png) [@FlyingRamenMonster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FlyingRamenMonster)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2010, 5:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-help-me-identify-this-painting/535397/10 "2010-04-18T17:45:05Z")
If anyone’s interested, I [managed to find it again](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Solomon_Ajax_and_Cassandra.jpg). It _was_ Pre-Raphaelite! Though I guess she wasn’t unconscious after all. (What’s with Ajax’s positioning anyway? The way he’s walking he must have come directly out of the monument or something.) ---
**Author:** ![Cuckoorex](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ad7895/32.png) [@Cuckoorex](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cuckoorex)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2010, 5:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-help-me-identify-this-painting/535397/11 "2010-04-18T17:46:41Z")
I’d do her. ---
**Author:** ![choie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/choie/32/7829_2.png) [@choie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/choie)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2010, 6:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-help-me-identify-this-painting/535397/12 "2010-04-18T18:19:45Z")
Glad you found it, **FlyingRamenMonster**! > [@FlyingRamenMonster](#): > > If anyone’s interested, I [managed to find it again](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Solomon_Ajax_and_Cassandra.jpg). It _was_ Pre-Raphaelite! Though I guess she wasn’t unconscious after all. (What’s with Ajax’s positioning anyway? The way he’s walking he must have come directly out of the monument or something.) Ajax probably had to climb down from Athena’s statue, where Cassandra was trying to hide herself / get sanctuary. Little good did her Athena-worshipping do her, of course. Athena punished Ajax after the fact, but did squat to protect poor Cassandra.