The Dance of the Hours

Exactly three years ago DailyArt has been published in App Store and Google Play. It means two things: 1.Time flies 2. We have been with you for 1095 days now and this is the number of pieces of art we have featured so far! Thank you for being with us all this time, for all your feedback, comments and stories you share with us. And, if you want to help us in further development and in creating new DailyArt you can make a donation: http://support.getdailyart.com. Greetings from Warsaw! Previati reinterpreted the subject, an iconographic theme in existence since the decorative painting of the Renaissance era, drawing inspiration also in the title from the then celebrated ballet of the same name in the third act of La Gioconda, composed by Amilcare Ponchielli. First performed in Milan in 1876, the opera was based in turn on a play by Victor Hugo. The painting shows twelve female figures representing the hours and mythologically personifying the seasons. Set in cosmic space flooded with light between the Sun and the Earth, they dance in a circle that alludes to the constant and never-ending succession of day and night. The dance thus becomes an allegory of time as the law that governs life. It suggests the idea of a universe perceived as pure light and pure music, a recurrent concept in Symbolism and especially in the poetry of Baudelaire and Mallarmé.