Last Watch of Hero

The young priestess Hero, dressed in pale pink flowing robes, stares anxiously out from her tower. She looks to the right with tearful wide eyes, her left arm raised and grasping the heavy purple-brown drapes to her side, the bottom of the fabric embroidered in gold. Her right arm is curved about her head, mostly covered in a black cloak which outlines her body and left arm. She stands framed in a window with columns on either side. 'The Death of Leander': Sepia-toned predella beneath 'The Last Watch of Hero', depicting a tempestuous sea crashing around a single black rock on the right, Leander's drowned body lying across it, face down, naked except for drapery across his lower body. The gilt frame has fluted pillars on either side with a border of rosette motifs along the top. The Last Watch of Hero with predella panel The Death of Leander about 1887 Frederic, Lord Leighton 1830 -1896 Oil on canvas Although Hero and Leander lived in rival cities separated by a stretch of sea, the star-crossed lovers conspired to meet every night. Braving the current, Leander swam across the water guided by a lamp that Hero lit in her tower. Tragedy struck after a summer of love when winter winds blew out the lamp. Without this guide, Leander floundered and drowned. Here, even Hero's draped robes convey her torment. Leighton shows her as she begins to fear the worst. His device of the additional predella panel shows Leander dead and hints at how the story ends. Hero will throw herself onto these same rocks and the lovers will be joined in death. The lower half containing the predella is topped on both sides with a large scroll feature with three smaller tiers of scroll below. Leighton was a master at scenes such as these, which aimed to raise the overall standard of British art by drawing upon classical tales from antiquity. A worthy subject for a sophisticated artist.