Which 1947 Leonora Carrington painting is titled The Giantess?

Leonora Carrington’s 1947 painting The Giantess is also known as The Guardian of the Egg.

The work shows a monumental female figure in a richly patterned red garment, holding or protecting a large egg. Small figures and an expansive landscape surround her, giving the scene the atmosphere of a myth, folktale, or ritual. The egg can suggest birth, transformation, and hidden potential, although Carrington’s imagery does not have one fixed interpretation.

The alternate title, The Guardian of the Egg, is especially common in museum and reference discussions. Carrington drew on Celtic mythology, alchemy, folklore, and her own invented symbolic world. She was born in England, became closely associated with Surrealism after meeting Max Ernst, and later lived and worked in Mexico. The painting should not be confused with Carrington’s Self-Portrait (Inn of the Dawn Horse), made in 1938.