Selene

Albert Aublet

France, 1860 - 1890

Albert Aublet was born in France in 1851. Having trained in the studios of leading painters of the time such as Claudius Jacquand and Jean-Léon Gérôme, Aublet held his first exhibition in 1873 at the Salon de Paris, known simply as "Salon." Like many Western painters of the 19th century, he traveled to the East, and these travels influenced him to create works in an "Orientalist" style.

This painting depicts Selene, the moon goddess in Greek mythology. According to the Greek poet Hesiod's Theogony, Selene is the sister of the sun god Helios and the goddess of sunrise, Eos. Legend says that when her brother Helios finished his journey across the sky, it was Selene's turn, her chariot pulled by horses. In this work, Aublet depicts Selene soaring alone through the sky without her horses. Could the mountains we see behind Selene be the legendary Latmos (Beşparmak) Mountains, and could the body of water on which Selene, with her radiant skin, stands be Lake Bafa?