Skip to page content
Artworks

Daphne, 2015

  • Artist

    Elizabeth Colomba

  • Title

    Daphne

  • Date

    2015

  • Medium

    Oil and gold leaf on canvas

  • Dimensions

    36 × 24 in. (91.4 × 61 cm) Frame: 41 3/4 × 29 3/4 × 1 in. (106 × 75.6 × 2.5 cm)

  • Credit line

    The Studio Museum in Harlem; Museum purchase with funds provided by Neda Young

  • Object Number

    2017.2

In her series “Mythology,” Elizabeth Colomba continues a long tradition of artists looking to Greek mythology for inspiration. Here, she references the tale of the naiad (a freshwater nymph) Daphne and the gods Cupid and Apollo. Colomba reshapes the myth by positioning a Black woman as the primary subject of the painting, thereby countering the erasure of Black bodies from Classical antiquity narratives. In Daphne, Colomba represents the naiad holding an arrow, Apollo's lyre as the pedestal of the table behind her, and, further in the background, the branches of a laurel tree, into which Daphne is transformed during the climax of her story.


Explore further
Artworks

Daphne, 2015

  • Artist

    Elizabeth Colomba

  • Title

    Daphne

  • Date

    2015

  • Medium

    Oil and gold leaf on canvas

  • Dimensions

    36 × 24 in. (91.4 × 61 cm) Frame: 41 3/4 × 29 3/4 × 1 in. (106 × 75.6 × 2.5 cm)

  • Credit line

    The Studio Museum in Harlem; Museum purchase with funds provided by Neda Young

  • Object Number

    2017.2

In her series “Mythology,” Elizabeth Colomba continues a long tradition of artists looking to Greek mythology for inspiration. Here, she references the tale of the naiad (a freshwater nymph) Daphne and the gods Cupid and Apollo. Colomba reshapes the myth by positioning a Black woman as the primary subject of the painting, thereby countering the erasure of Black bodies from Classical antiquity narratives. In Daphne, Colomba represents the naiad holding an arrow, Apollo's lyre as the pedestal of the table behind her, and, further in the background, the branches of a laurel tree, into which Daphne is transformed during the climax of her story.


Explore further