Victims I—Killed, Assaulted

Poussin’s compositions depict victims of tragic deaths or assaults, most of them women. Works showing the dying include the Death of Virginia, Landscape with Orpheus and Eurydice, Landscape with Pyramus and Thisbe, and the Realm of Flora. Among women assaulted, Poussin’s works include the Massacre of the Innocents, Christ and the Woman Taken in Adultery, Queen Zenobia found on the Banks of the River Arax, Apollo and Daphne (two versions), Pan and Syrinx, Rape of the Sabine Women (two versions), and the drawing the Rape of Europa.

Where Ethics and Aesthetics Meet: Titian's Rape of Europa

Titian's Rape of Europa is highly praised for its luminous colors and sensual textures. But the painting has an overlooked dark side, namely that it eroticizes rape. I argue that this is an ethical defect that diminishes the painting aesthetically. This argument—that an artwork can be worse off qua work of art precisely because it is somehow ethically problematic—demonstrates that feminist concerns about art can play a legitimate role in art criticism and aesthetic appreciation.