COVE

We spoke about this piece in class a bit, but I wanted to dive a bit more deeper into this painting. It was briefly mentioned how controversial it was, so I'd like to add a bit more on that. This painting, as you can see, shows a vulnerable woman with an imp or mara sitting upon her stomach. Her clothes are draped around her in a way that it's very telling of her figure. When presented and displayed in the gallery of The Royal Acadamy, the piece was received with shock by visitors, but it wasn't so shocking that they took it down. Rather it was shocking in a curious way. There were mixed reviews, some art critics claiming that "hag riding" was too terrible to be agreeable with anyone, and others finding it as a worthy source open to interpretation. It's the implications of this painting that rendered controversy. The women from can be seen, but she is technically covered, the imp or mara can be interpreted as a succubus, which would prey sexually on sleeping women, but in the painting it is just sitting upon her, leaving it all up to be a possible dream of the woman. As a standing piece of romanticism, and an important part of gothic culture, writers like Mary Shelly were even inspired by it. 

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