Oedipus Taken Down from the Tree

This work from his Parisian period, inspired by the ancient Greek legend, is one of Millet's rare mythological subjects. Shepherds rescue the infant Oedipus, strung up in a tree and left to die because his father, Laius, believes the prediction that his son will kill him. Beneath the surface lies a painting of Saint Jerome, rejected by the Paris Salon the previous year.