Fotis sees her Lover Lucius Transformed into an Ass. Motif from Apeleius' The Golden Ass 1807 - 1808

Nicolai Abildgaard painted Fotis sees her Lover Lucius Transformed into an Ass, with oil on canvas. Abildgaard was a leading figure in the Danish art scene of the late 18th and early 19th centuries. In this painting, we see a scene from Apuleius's novel "The Golden Ass". It's a story filled with transformations and the pitfalls of dabbling in magic. Note Fotis's dramatic gesture, indicative of the rising interest in Romanticism, which valued strong emotional expression. Abildgaard, as director of the Academy, was at the very center of the Neoclassical movement in Denmark and taught future stars such as Bertel Thorvaldsen and Caspar David Friedrich. The image's meaning emerges from the visual codes that were well established at the time and from its relation to classical literature. Art historians explore these connections through careful archival research and social context. The meaning of art shifts as society changes, but studying the conditions of its creation helps to understand the values and assumptions of its time.