A Eunuch's Dream
- Medium
- oil on wood
- Dimensions
- Framed: 54 x 74.5 x 5.5 cm (21 1/4 x 29 5/16 x 2 3/16 in.); Unframed: 39.3 x 65.4 cm (15 1/2 x 25 3/4 in.)
- Genre
- Painting
- Museum
- Cleveland Museum of Art
Tags
France, 19th century
About
This painting, inspired by Charles Montesquieu's Persian Letters (published in 1721), depicts a eunuch who wanted to marry a harem slave. He experienced a vision of her while smoking his opium pipe, but her little companion holding a knife dripping with blood reminds us that the eunuch's anatomy precludes the fulfillment of his dream. The outline of a hand next to the signature is a khamsa, a symbol used to ward off evil.
