Francis Newton Souza

Property from a private American collector

Sotheby's London, 16 June 2009, lot 60

New York, Rubin Museum of Art, Modernist Art from India: The Body Unbound, November 2011- April 2012

Minor possible accretions are visible upon very close inspection. Canvas slightly loose on stretcher otherwise appears to be in good overall condition.
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Matthias Claudius (1740-1815) was the author of the famous poem Death and the Maiden (the title of the current painting) which was later used by Franz Schubert in 1817 for one of his most celebrated songs, which in turn became the basis for his 1824 String Quartet of the same name.

The Maiden:

Pass by! Oh, pass by!

Go away, fierce man of bone!

I am still young, go my dear!

And do not touch me.

Death:

Give me your hand, you beautiful and delicate form!

I am a friend, and am not come to punish.

Be of good cheer! I am not savage,

You will sleep softly in my arms!

The theme of a personified Death approaching a virginal maiden is rooted in ancient mythological traditions. From the Greeks we have the ancient story of the abduction of Persephone by Hades, God of the underworld. Death personified became popular in Europe in the middle of the 14th century during the Great Plague and the theme of the Dance of Death appears frequently in Medieval European art.  By the end of the 15th century the subject of Death and the Maiden becomes a central theme where there is a strong mood of eroticism in the imagery. The young maiden was no longer involved in a dance, but in a sensual embrace, which became more and more erotic as time went by.  In 1894, Edward Munch produced a painting of Death and the Maiden. In his work, as in Matthias Claudius’ poem, Death is not an antagonist but a charmer. Munch suggests a victory of Love over Death: the girl is not dominated, by Death, but rather embraces him passionately.

Souza's fascination with the female nude is well documented, and frequently his depictions of couples are in the form of a monstrous male figure in erotic embrace with a young beautiful girl. In several erotic sketches from roughly the same period as this work Souza's male figures often appear as ghostlike shadows. It is therefore no surprise that the subject of 'Death and the Maiden' would have held an appeal for him and offers the perfect art historical precedents for him to play with one of his favourite themes; that of the Beauty and the Beast.

Much like Munch’s engraving, Souza’s Death and the Maiden suggests more melancholy than fear or anger. The maiden and the skeleton clasp each other in an erotic pose. He is kissing her and grabbing her breasts; it is sensuous and voluptuous; the maiden’s response is one of unstated acceptance. The full-frontal striking female nude appears in the foreground, as a centre-point of the painting. Interestingly the palette and treatment of the background of Death and the Maiden are very similar to Souza’s iconic work The Crucifixion, painted three years prior to the current work.  In the words of E. Mullins, “Souza’s treatment of the figurative image is richly varied. Besides the violence, the eroticism and the satire, there is a religious quality about his work which is medieval in its simplicity and in its unsophisticated sense of wonder.” (E. Mullins, Souza, London, 1962, p. 41) In this painting, one cannot avoid seeing the wonder, the medieval power, and the true existential drama brought by Souza's brush, and unfolding still before our eyes.