I'm no art critic but I'd have to say that among the paintings I looked at of Daphnis and Chloe, this one by Louis Hersent has to be my favorite of them all. But the main reason for this isn't because of the colors in the picture, or the composition, or because this is what I imagined them looking like when I read the story, even though those are all part of it. The one thing that stuck out to me is the unusual action that they happen to be doing in this scene. It seems that Daphnis is pulling a thorn out from the foot of an injured Chloe, and putting his arm around her for comfort. It captures a moment of innocence, and also a moment of vulnerability between the two, which seem to show up together a lot in the story. She's almost like a child who has fallen down and scraped her knee. Forget chocolates, roses, and sentimental Hallmark cards. It's the little things like this that seem to really capture what a romance can truly be, and I couldn't think of a better depiction of love for Valentine's day.
But perhaps the most beautiful part to me is what I feel that thorn represents for our two lovers. Throughout most of our readings of romance, we have seen that innocence is often tempted by very violent, and not so innocent forces, only to be refuted time and time again because the love between the two was too powerful to be defeated by such a shallow cause. This thorn is what has punctured the innocence and chastity of Chloe in a very symbolic way, but with Daphnis there by her side there is nothing to fear for long. They make each other strong in the face of threats like this. He will carefully remove it and the thorn will no longer be a threat to the innocent love that exists between them.
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