Eugène Delacroix, Ovid among the Scythians, 1859

The painting shows the poet Ovid (Publius Ovidius Naso, 43 BC–17 AD) in his exile on the Black Sea (Tomi, today Constanta), where he was banished by Emperor Augustus in 8 AD. According to historical sources, the Scythian people living there also fed on mare's milk. In the foreground of the painting, a Scythe can be seen milking. The painting by Eugène Delacroix (1798–1863) was completed in 1859 and is based on a piece the artist had already worked on in 1844 for the ceiling of the library of the Palais Bourbon in Paris.

Eugène Delacroix (1798–1863): Ovid among the Scythians, 1859, oil on canvas, 87,6 cm x 130,2 cm; source: National Gallery, London, inventory number: NG6262, https://www.nationalgallery.org.uk/paintings/eugene-delacroix-ovid-among-the-scythians, CC BY-NC-ND 4.0, https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/.