Oedipus Conquering the Sphinx

In Greek myth, Oedipus defeated the Sphinx, a monster with the head of a human, body of a lion, and wings of a bird. According to legend, the Sphinx asked riddles to those who passed and ate those who answered incorrectly.

François-Léon Sicard’s idealized nudes and highly refined surfaces display the enduring Neoclassical tradition. The subject of this bronze, however, also reveals the influence of contemporary Symbolist artists and their fascination with the notion of the femme fatale, a woman who brings about a man’s demise through her sexuality—here embodied by the Sphinx.