# Paintings Based on Operas



## Bellinilover (Jul 24, 2013)

Does anyone here have any favorite paintings of opera characters? I have framed prints of the first two on the walls of my bedroom. The first is "Tristan and Isolde" by John William Waterhouse; the second is "The Bride of Lammermoor" [_Lucia di Lammermoor_] by William Powell Frith. 
The third is another painting I really like, "Electra at the Tomb of Agammemnon" by Frederic Leighton, which of course looks forward to Strauss's _Elektra_:


----------



## elgar's ghost (Aug 8, 2010)

I like the artwork that Arthur Rackham did of some of Wagner's characters - his style was perfectly suited to the atmospheric fantasy element of Wagner's work.

http://ts2.mm.bing.net/th?id=HN.607999225508662905&pid=15.1

http://ts3.mm.bing.net/th?id=HN.607996601276239226&pid=15.1

http://ts1.mm.bing.net/th?id=HN.608054604813635400&pid=15.1


----------



## Morimur (Jan 23, 2014)

*"Mad Tristan" by Salvador Dali*

The painting depicts the Cornish knight Tristan and the Irish princess Iseult, both characters from a 12th century Celtic legend.

Their scandalous love story inspired Wagner to write an opera.

View attachment 36473


----------



## Autumn Leaves (Jan 3, 2014)

I have recently discovered for myself illustrations of Wagner's Ring by Konstantin Vasilyev. I have to admit, I liked them much more than the famous ones by Rackham. These ones, I think, show just how majestic and entrancing Wagner's characters and plots are.

Here are some of the illustrations:

1 - A Valkyrie
2 - Hunding finds Siegmund in his house
3 - Valkyrie, the messenger of death
4 - The magical fire
5 - The Valkyrie and a fallen hero


----------



## StlukesguildOhio (Dec 25, 2006)

I'll come back with more later... but right now... off the top of my head... I can offer these:









-_Siegfried and the Rheinmaidens_ by Albert Pinkham Ryder









-_Parsifal_ by Odilon Redon









-_The Bavarian Don Giovanni_ by Paul Klee


----------



## StlukesguildOhio (Dec 25, 2006)

Marc Chagall's poster for _The Magic Flute_ is quite nice...

These two posters by Echo Chernik are also quite nice:


----------



## StlukesguildOhio (Dec 25, 2006)

Gotta differ with Autumn Leaves. I far prefer Rackham's illustrations of Wagner. He combines elements of traditional German graphic arts (the Germans were especially known for print-making: Durer, Grien, Schoengauer, the Expressionists, etc...) with an almost Asian calligraphic mark-making. As Elgar's Ghost suggested, the results are marvelously atmospheric:


----------



## Autumn Leaves (Jan 3, 2014)

StlukesguildOhio said:


> Gotta differ with Autumn Leaves. I far prefer Rackham's illustrations of Wagner. He combines elements of traditional German graphic arts (the Germans were especially known for print-making: Durer, Grien, Schoengauer, the Expressionists, etc...) with an almost Asian calligraphic mark-making. As Elgar's Ghost suggested, the results are marvelously atmospheric:


The thing I do like about Rackham is that his paintings are marvelous in showing the dynamic, the movement. Especially when it comes to the Rhinemaidens and Loge, the most slippery and unstable ones.


----------



## Aramis (Mar 1, 2009)




----------



## GioCar (Oct 30, 2013)

Aramis said:


>


All right, Giuditta Pasta and Jenny Lind
Any hint for the first pic? Thanks


----------



## Aramis (Mar 1, 2009)

GioCar said:


> Any hint for the first pic? Thanks


One of them is wondering what holds him in such a moment, the other came here as friend, brother and defender.


----------



## Itullian (Aug 27, 2011)

StlukesguildOhio said:


> Marc Chagall's poster for _The Magic Flute_ is quite nice...
> 
> These two posters by Echo Chernik are also quite nice:


I LOVE the Magic Flute painting!!!!


----------



## Bellinilover (Jul 24, 2013)

Oh, I can't believe I forgot this one, as it's one of my favorite paintings ever. I've got a print of it at home, too:









Shakespeare's Ophelia -- a.k.a. Ambroise Thomas' Ophelie
Artist: John William Waterhouse

Also:









The Venusburg from TANNHAUSER
Artist: Edward Burne-Jones


----------



## SilenceIsGolden (May 5, 2013)

If we're talking not just paintings inspired by operas, but paintings that depict characters from operas, then of course you have to mention Titian's Salome:


----------



## Marschallin Blair (Jan 23, 2014)

StlukesguildOhio said:


> Gotta differ with Autumn Leaves. I far prefer Rackham's illustrations of Wagner. He combines elements of traditional German graphic arts (the Germans were especially known for print-making: Durer, Grien, Schoengauer, the Expressionists, etc...) with an almost Asian calligraphic mark-making. As Elgar's Ghost suggested, the results are marvelously atmospheric:


---
Some of my all-time favorite Ring illustrations. Thanks.


----------



## Sloe (May 9, 2014)

SilenceIsGolden said:


> If we're talking not just paintings inspired by operas, but paintings that depict characters from operas, then of course you have to mention Titian's Salome:
> 
> View attachment 40077


And continuing with that The Ramsund Carving describing the story in Siegfried:









Of course Wagner changed a lot but I think you can recognise Mime/Regin being killed, the talking birds and Siegfried/Sigurd killing Fafne/Fafner and at least I can hear the music playing in my head.


----------



## Badinerie (May 3, 2008)

Aramis said:


> Well a certain Donizetti Sextet springs to mind...:lol:


----------



## MAuer (Feb 6, 2011)

Opera used as advertising:










Looks like this company is peddling "meat extract." Just the thing for a starving prisoner, I suppose.


----------



## Posie (Aug 18, 2013)

I don't know who painted the second one but... *spine tingle!*


----------



## Bellinilover (Jul 24, 2013)

_The Valkyrie's Vigil_ by Edward Robert Hughes:









_The Bride of Lammermoor_ (a.k.a. Donizetti's _Lucia_) by Henry Gillard Glindoni:









_Ariadne in Naxos_ by Evelyn Pickering de Morgan:


----------



## Couac Addict (Oct 16, 2013)

Alban Berg...


----------



## Bellinilover (Jul 24, 2013)

A number of paintings from the 19th century that nostalgically depict the 17th century remind me in a non-specific way of Bellini's I PURITANI. For example:









(I'm not sure of the title, but I think it's by an Italian painter of the late 19th century.)

And here are Othello and Desdemona (of Rossini and Verdi fame) by the Victorian artist William Powell Frith:









Last but not least, I keep thinking this painting resembles Maria Callas in some role (probably Violetta). The only thing the model lacks is the "Callas nose"!


----------



## Pugg (Aug 8, 2014)

I have this one framed , present from someone _dear_ to me .


----------



## sospiro (Apr 3, 2010)

Benjamin Britten wrote _The Prodigal Son_ based on Rembrandt's The Return of the Prodigal Son.



*The Return of the Prodigal Son*



*Scene from Mahogany Opera's production of The Prodigal Son at the Hermitage in St. Petersburg*


----------



## ma7730 (Jun 8, 2015)

The Met apparently has a new coming gallery exhibit, of paintings based on Otello.


----------



## Antony (Nov 4, 2013)

Aramis said:


> :


A wild guess: a parody of the 3 musketeers with d'Artagnan, dumping Constance (in rose), flirts with Anne d'Autriche the Queen.
Is there any opera related to that?


----------



## elgar's ghost (Aug 8, 2010)

Antony said:


> A wild guess: a parody of the 3 musketeers with d'Artagnan, dumping Constance (in rose), flirts with Anne d'Autriche the Queen.
> Is there any opera related to that?


There was a musical (by Friml) but I can't say I've heard of an actual opera/operetta based on it.


----------



## Bellinilover (Jul 24, 2013)

Maximillian Pirner's _The Sonnamublist_, which I'm guessing is based on Bellini's _La Sonnambula_:









There's a similar painting by John Everett Millais, too, called _The Sleepwalker_.


----------



## Bellinilover (Jul 24, 2013)

FADED LAURELS by E.B. Leighton. Not based on TANNHAUSER but nevertheless reminiscent of Act II:


----------

