PERSEPHONE - QUEEN OF THE NIGHT AND THE UNDERWORLD

In Greek myth, Persephone, daughter of the harvest Goddess Demeter, was raped and abducted by Hades, King of the Underworld. While there, she ate three pomegranate seeds and was thus doomed to stay forever beneath the earth. Her mother, Demeter, sought her daughter everywhere, sorrowing and completely neglecting the crops. When they withered, winter appeared on the earth. Humans beseeched the gods to intervene in the dispute and eventually a compromise was reached. Persephone would spend half'a year in Hades (winter) and the other half restored to her mother, at which time the harvests could continue to grow.

The painting shows the moment when mother and daughter are reconciled, and their first kiss. Persephone still holds the pomegranate, symbol both of fertility and of her fate as Dark Queen. Her dress is also decorated with pomegranate motifs and her flower, a night- blooming nicotiana, grows beside her. Symbolic of night, the moon surrounds her. Calm and tranquil, her pose contrasts with that of her dynamic, active mother. Demeter is accompanied by all the fruits of harvest, by summer flowers, roses, lilies and daisies and is surrounded by sunlight

Inspiration for this painting come from a Roman marble sculpture of Demeter and Persephone kissing. The double statue, in which the goddesses face each other, sculpts Demeter in white marble, her daughter in black marble.