#aberdeen art gallery

(The) Danaïdes (1904/1906), by J.W. Waterhouse 

Women and water somehow intrigued Waterhouse so it is no surprise that he painted the Danaïdes. These 50 daughters of King Danaus were forced to marry the 50 sons of his rival King Aegyptus with the task to kill them in their wedding night.  After the killings, the women were sentenced to death and in the underworld they were condemned to fill a large jar with a big hole in it.  Only one daughter refused to assassinate her husband because she truly loved him and this couple started the dynasty of the new rulers of Argos.

The first shown painting is regarded as a study of the second one that was completed two years later.  Being only discovered in 1989, it is nevertheless a painting in its full right. The later version was sold to the magnate James Murray and ended up in the Aberdeen Art Gallery in 1927.