The Cup of Love
Elihu Vedder American
Vedder based this painting, in its elaborate Italian revival-style frame, on one of his drawings for the 1884 artist’s book, Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyám. He had been introduced to a translation of the twelfth-century Persian poet-astronomer’s treatise on the joys of daily life and mysteries of death in 1871, and his appreciation for it deepened after the death of his first son. Rubáiyát haunted him for decades, marking a new phase in Vedder’s career and leading to many related paintings and decorative designs. The artist’s rich, thematic material for the text continued to resonate with public debates over culture, religion, and science well into the early twentieth century.
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