Curtius Leaping into the Gulf

At over three metres tall and two metres wide, Curtius Leaping into the Gulf is one of RAMM’s largest paintings. It depicts the mythical legend of Marcus Curtius, a hero of ancient Rome. The legend goes that a giant chasm once opened in the Roman forum. In an act of self-sacrifice, Curtius persuaded the gods to close it by jumping in.

Benjamin Robert Haydon was born in Plymouth, Devon. He studied at the Royal Academy schools in London. Unimpressed by much of the work around him, he determined to revive the art of painting historical, mythological and biblical subjects on a grand scale. Constantly short of money and frustrated by lack of recognition, he was also forced to paint conventional portraits and scenes from everyday life.

You can buy a high-quality print of this work from Art UK.

Visual description: In the centre, a Roman soldier is on the back of a white horse. The soldier is carrying a spear in his right hand and a shield in his left. A red cape billows behind him as he looks off to the side, his expression resolute. The horse is in mid-leap, its legs up and tail flowing behind. The background is desolate, with jagged rocks around the edges of a chasm. A hint of blue sky can be seen in the top left corner.