Boreas and Oreithyia

‘He shook out his wings and trailed the dusty cloak over the mountain tops. He engulfed the panic stricken Oreithyia in his dusky wings.’ [Ovid, Metamorphoses VI] Purple-winged Boreas, god of the North Wind, holds his love, the beautiful Oreithyia, close to him. His rugged hair whips across his face and sheets of fabric plume around them as they soar above the river of Illisus, the place from which Boreas snatched her. Through the blustery movement of the composition Evelyn conveys the struggle of their flight, composing the narrative of unrequited love and Oreithyia’s unwilful capture. Evelyn’s use of cross composition tightly knits the bodies, subtly calling on the myth of the rape amongst the clouds.