Pandora by a Romantic Painter

In the representation of Pandora given by the romantic painter Sir Lawrence Alma-Tadema, the fateful container of all the evils of the world is decorated with a Sphinx, to which the Egyptologist Henry Fischer attributes the connective force between the world of the gods and the world of men. At the same time, the Sphinx was born as an anthropomorphic creature, a fusion of different elements, just as Pandora was born from the union of different virtues attributed by the gods. Tadema gives her a fairytale portrait, comparing it to the image of Andersen’s Little Mermaid, who is fascinated by her latest treasure found at the bottom of the sea. The artist manages to perfectly grasp his hypnotic and enchanted gaze a moment before the dramatic event. He assimilates the woman to a figure between the divine and the mythological and gives her a further seductive touch by giving her red hair, so loved by her contemporary Dante Gabriel Rossetti. Text taken from Lo Sbuffo, cultural voice of digital natives. 1881, private collection.