Oedipus and the Sphinx, 1864. The Sphinx, a mythical creature-part lion, part woman-grimaces in horror as Oedipus solves her riddle: "What is that which has one voice and yet becomes four-footed, two-footed, and three-footed?" Oedipus replies, "Man, for as a babe he is four-footed, as an adult he is two-footed, and as an old man he gets a third support, a cane," and the Sphinx hurls herself onto the rocks below, which are strewn with the bones of her victims.


Size: 4141px × 4960px
Photo credit: © Heritage Images / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No

Keywords: 19th, 19th-century, art, arts, auguste, beast, beasts, canvas, cave, caves, century, color, colour, concept, continent, country, creature, creatures, dominique, entrance, europe, european, feature, figure, france, french, gateway, geographical, geography, greece, greek, guy, heritage, ingres, jean, jean-auguste-dominique, location, male, man, men, museum, mythical, mythological, mythology, naked, nakedness, nineteenth, nude, nudity, oedipus, oil, people, portrait, profile, questioning, riddle, skeleton, spear, spears, sphinx, thebes, walters, war, warfare, weapon, weaponry, weapons