Completed Continental European after 1800 5 Could this work by Monticelli be based on a play or an opera?

In the Grotto
Topic: Subject or sitter

Can anyone identify the subject of this painting? Could it be based on a play or opera?

Frances Fowle, Continental European after 1800, Entry reviewed by Art UK

Completed, Outcome

Jade Audrey King,

This discussion has now been closed. No conclusion was reached. If any contributors have new information about this painting, we encourage them to propose a new discussion by following the Art Detective link on the Your Paintings page: http://www.bbc.co.uk/arts/yourpaintings/paintings/in-the-grotto-212720

Thank you to all for participating in this discussion. To those viewing this discussion for the first time, please see below for all comments that led to this conclusion.

4 comments

Martin Hopkinson,

As Frances probably knows there are similar paintings in the Burrell collection which may be related to the theatre or opera

Could it represent a scene from Gounod’s The Queen of Sheba, first performed in 1862? Scene IV takes place in the summer palace of Suliman, possibly the ‘oriental’ figure seated on the right of our painting. In this scene Suliman begins to doubt Balkis’s love for him and learns of her clandestine meeting with Adoniram. Monticelli appears to contrast the crestfallen figure of the Ottoman ruler with the carefree frivolity of his harem.

Alice Read,

This discussion has been inactive for 5 months, does anyone have anything to add before it is closed?