Hero, Having Thrown herself from the Tower at the Sight of Leander Drowned, Dies on his Body

Hero, Having Thrown Herself from the Tower at the Sight of Leander Drowned, Dies on His Body, painted in 1829 and now in Tate, depicts the tragic climax of the ancient Greek love story. Leander swam the Hellespont nightly to visit Hero, a priestess of Aphrodite, until he drowned in a storm. Etty renders Hero's suicidal grief with the sensuous intensity that characterized his treatment of mythological subjects — the nude female body simultaneously an expression of despair and an object of beauty. The painting exemplifies the Romantic period's fascination with passionate love, tragic fate, and the beauty of death, themes that pervaded British art and literature during the late 1820s.

Etty's treatment of the nude figures demonstrates his mastery of flesh painting in the Venetian tradition. The dramatic composition of the falling figure and the drowned body below creates a powerful visual impact enhanced by the warm, luminous palette.