Sir George Frampton Lamia Royal Academy Victorian Painting Postcard

RA*  This is a beautiful undated but modern published official postcard from Londons Royal Academy Of Arts for this historic drawing of Sir George Frampton and Lamia from 1889 with artist details, dates, dimensions etc & Royal Academy Of Arts logo on reverse being the official souvenir from when exhibited unused and mint.

With its use of polychromatic materials and melancholic subject matter of the femme fatale, Lamia epitomises the ideals of the late 19th century Symbolist movement. Frampton's figure is not the sorceress of classical tradition but the Lamia of John Keats's eponymous poem (1819).

Keats's Lamia is a beautiful serpent-like creature who assumes female form to win the love of the mortal Lycius. When her true nature is exposed at their wedding, she vanishes and her husband dies. Frampton's bust is composed of various materials. The skin is made of ivory and the clothing of bronze. The costume is decorated with opals, symbolic of shifting passions and ill fortune.