Julio and Romiette in Manarola

Julio and Romiette in Manarola by Hemza Zeghar (April 2022).

I was inspired by « Le Printemps » (Springtime) by the French painter Pierre-Auguste Cot. 

To illustrate an allegory of juvenile insouciance and unconditional love, but with no effort to escape distinct surrealism, I have chosen to develop the motif in a new direction. A youth and maiden in classical dress, the former in a dull red tunic and the latter in white diaphanous drapery (taken from Pierre-August Cot’s painting), are seated in a swing which hangs from the moon. Half a mile from shore the moon sailed slowly, seeming to move on air between sky and sea. The maiden clings trustingly to her lover, with both her arms around his neck. A shaft of sunlight accents the lines and sharpens the forms of the near old Mediterranean fishing town.