Triton and Nereid

Arnold Böcklin was born in Basel. His father, Christian Frederick Böcklin, was descended from an old family of Schaffhausen and engaged in the silk trade; his mother, Ursula Lippe, was a native of the same city. Arnold studied at the Düsseldorf arts academy under Schirmer, and became a friend of Ludwig Andreas Feuerbach. Influenced by Romanticism, Bocklin's work is Symbolist, and includes mythological subjects often portrayed by the Pre-Raphaelites. His pictures combine mythological and fantastical figures such as this one of Triton (a satyr-like Greek sea god, seen here looming over a sea nymph) with classical architecture constructions, often revealing an obsession with death. The mix creates a strange fantasy world.