ABSTRACT
Aestheticism and the art-for-art’s-sake movements reached their heights towards the end of the nineteenth century, when growing interest in a purely aesthetic sensual experience coincided with renewed interest in the female nude, corresponding to the rise of the bourgeoisie. Perhaps the most effective subject to communicate the iconic potential of the female figure in the nineteenth century was the story of Pygmalion and Galatea in Ovid’s Metamorphoses. The artistic challenge of creating the ideal drew select artists to the Pygmalion subject. Most artists avoided the Pygmalion narrative, perhaps being fearful of the challenges presented by the process of transformation in the story. Notable reincarnations of Pygmalion’s story appeared throughout the ages, leading up to the eighteenth century. With regards to Girodet and some of his contemporaries, certain eighteenth-century versions of Pygmalion’s story in visual media attempted to put a positive spin on the theme of the divinely inspired artist.
