Painting date: 1907
Medium: Oil on canvas
Size: 135 x 90 cm

Greek legends tell how Phyllis, queen of Thrace, fell in love with Demopho?n, king of Melos, the son of Theseus and Phaedra, who visits her court en route for Athens after the Trojan War, where he had hidden inside the legendary Trojan Horse. He left the court, but when he failed to keep his promise to return within a month, she committed suicide, whereupon Athena, taking pity on her, turned her into an almond tree. Eventually, Demopho?n returned to Thrace and, discovering what had happened, embraced the tree, which immediately burst into blossom.