Dibutades: The Myth of Painting's Female Inventor

The myth of Dibutades, the Corinthian maid credited with inventing painting by tracing her lover's shadow, originates from Pliny the Elder's Natural History. While Pliny did not name her, later sources identify her as Dibutades, daughter of potter Butades. The story gained popularity among Western artists from the 1770s to the 1820s, particularly in Britain and France. Key depictions include David Allan's The Origin of Painting (1775), Joseph Wright of Derby's The Corinthian Maid (1782-1784), Jean-Baptiste Regnault's The Origin of Painting (1786), and Joseph Benoît Suvée's Invention of the Art of Drawing (1791). Female artists also engaged the theme: Mlle. Gueret exhibited Modern Dibutade in 1793, and Jeanne-Élisabeth Chaudet showed Dibutade Coming to Visit Her Lover's Tomb (1810), later destroyed in World War I. The myth has persisted in feminist discourse and was parodied by Vitaly Komar and Alexander Melamid in The Origin of Socialist Realism (1982-1983).