Alexander Runciman

Fingal finding Corban-Cargla

Fingal finding Corban-Cargla by Alexander Runciman

Artwork Detail

In this episode in the poems of Ossian, the huntress Corban-Cargla is imprisoned by Starno when he finds her with a deer she has just shot. He then kills her father, Torcul-torno. Although Starno's 'red eyes rolled on me in love', Corban-Cargla rejects him, and he imprisons her in a cave where she is discovered by Fingal. As such, she seems a reworking of the Virgin huntress, Diana, and indeed the motif of blowing drapery framing her head first appears in Roman sarcophagi, and became very popular from the Renaissance on. (Monsters and Maidens, 2004)

Title
Fingal finding Corban-Cargla
Artist/creator
Alexander Runciman
Production date
1751-1785
Medium
etching
Dimensions
247 x 148 mm
Credit line
Mackelvie Trust Collection, Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki
Accession no
M1885/16/9
Copyright
No known copyright restrictions
Department
International Art
Display status
Not on display

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