The Daughters of Thespius 1853

Gustave Moreau painted 'The Daughters of Thespius' using oil on canvas, a traditional fine art medium that allowed him to build up layers of color and texture. The opulence of the scene—the architecture, the drapery, the figures themselves—is achieved through a laborious process of layering and glazing, creating a sense of depth and luminosity. The way the paint is applied gives the artwork a rich and almost dreamlike quality. Moreau was engaging with a long tradition of history painting, but he brought to it a sensibility that was all his own, one that embraced symbolism and a kind of decadent aesthetic. The amount of work involved in producing a canvas of this scale is considerable. Understanding the material properties of oil paint and the techniques employed by Moreau allows us to appreciate the artistry involved and to see how he was both part of and apart from the artistic conventions of his time.