A Visitation

Inspired by the myth of Neptune, having transformed himself into a dolphin in order to seduce the young maiden Melathe, overwhelming her with a thousand caresses. ‘Melathe and Neptune in the form of a Dolphin’ was illustrated in the nineteenth century by Jean Auguste Dominique Ingres, after a Giulio Bonasone engraving of the same name (c.1568). Here, Melanthe is portrayed as a physically superior heroine, after Rubens, from his ‘Massacre of the Innocents’ (c.1612), having ensnared the helpless dolphin/sea god in this boudoir scene.