The Delphic Oracle 1899

John William Godward painted The Delphic Oracle in the late 19th or early 20th century, and it exemplifies his typical subject matter. Godward belonged to a group of English artists who took their inspiration from the ancient world. The woman depicted here alludes to the priestesses of Apollo’s Temple in Delphi, Greece. Note the plumes of smoke rising from below; the original oracles inhaled vapors to induce a trance that they believed allowed them to see the future. The nakedness of the figure may seem odd to us now, but the ancient Greeks did not object to nudity. The painting speaks to the cultural authority held by the past for European artists in the 1800s. Looking at Godward’s painting through a social lens prompts us to ask what the Western world wanted from classical antiquity. Art historians use paintings like this as primary source material for the cultural history of the late 19th century.