Aurora Drives Away the Night

Giuliano Traballesi · ca. 1780
Oil on canvas
Milan, Italy - Pinacoteca di Brera
LDA · II · MMXXV

Source
Book · Il Neoclassicisimo nella Pittura Italiana di Angela Ottino Della Chiesa · Fratelli Fabbri Editori · 1967 · p. 41

Aurora, the Roman goddess of dawn, rises in the sky to mark the beginning of daylight. She is identified by the warm coral light surrounding her and the small winged children who accompany her - putti, symbolic helpers of divine forces in Italian art. Below her, Night turns away and gathers the dark cloth around herself, showing the retreat of darkness as the day arrives. The theme reflects a late Rococo interest in expressing natural cycles through mythological figures rather than scientific representation, giving viewers an intuitive image of the order of the cosmos. The ascent of Aurora and the cloud spirals supporting her later influenced Italian decorative arts, inspiring motifs seen in domestic fresco ceilings and ceramic ornament.

Reposting welcome; please credit Libreria d’Arte - Studio Soli

Detail
Aurora’s torch - symbol of the first light of dawn, carried to banish darkness before the sun itself appears.

Aurora’s drapery - colour and movement expressing the arrival of morning and the renewal of light.

Detail
Dawn nymph with the dew jug - the winged attendant pours the morning dew, cleansing the sky and preparing the world for the arrival of Aurora’s light.

Detail
The retreating Hours of the night - pale, fading figures that personify the hours of darkness withdrawing as Aurora brings light.

Detail
The retreat of Night - the shadowed figure recoiling as darkness yields to the sun’s ascent.