Category: Mythology,
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01 Work, Interpretations of Olympian deities, Ragnhild Nordensten’s Sjöhästar/ Seahorses, with footnotes #35
Sold for 125 000 SEK in Jun 2022 The hippocampus or hippocamp, often called a sea-horse in English, is a mythological creature shared by Phoenician, Etruscan, Pictish, Roman and Greek mythology, though its name has a Greek origin. The hippocampus has typically been depicted as having the upper body of a horse with the lower body of…
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01 Work, Contemporary Interpretations of Olympian deities, Jean Souverbie’s L’amazone, with footnotes #29
Sold for €36,585 EUR in December 2019 In Greek mythology, the Amazons were a race of woman warriors. The legendary Amazons were thought to have lived in Pontus, which is part of modern-day Turkey near the southern shore of the Black Sea. There they formed an independent kingdom under the government of a queen named…
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01 Work, Interpretations of Olympian deities, Wilhelm Kray’s THE SIRENS, with footnotes #33b
Sold for 12,500 GBP in May 2015According to Greek myths, sirens were powerful and erotic creatures, and many unsuspecting sailors would fall prey to their seductive beauty. The common belief was that they would devour sailors after their ships would crash into the rocks, as most men couldn’t resist the temptation of their sweet melodies and angelic…
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01 Painting, Olympian deities, by the Old Masters, Giovanni Domenico Cerrini’s Diana, with footnotes # 40
Estimated at £15,000 – £20,000 in December 2019 In Roman mythology, Diana was the goddess of the hunt, the moon and nature being associated with wild animals and woodland, and having the power to talk to and control animals. She was eventually equated with the Greek goddess Artemis, though she had an independent origin in Italy. Diana was worshipped…
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01 Work, Contemporary Interpretations of Olympian deities, B A H M A N’s Leda, with footnotes #33
Leda, in Greek legend, usually believed to be the daughter of Thestius, king of Aetolia, and wife of Tyndareus, king of Lacedaemon. She was also believed to have been the mother (by Zeus, who had approached and seduced her in the form of a swan) of the other twin, Pollux, and of Helen, both of whom…
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01 Work, Interpretations of Olympian deities, Titian’s Perseus and Andromeda, with footnotes #31
In Greek mythology, Andromeda is the daughter of the Aethiopian king Cepheus and his wife Cassiopeia. When Cassiopeia’s hubris leads her to boast that Andromeda is more beautiful than the Nereids, Poseidon sends a sea monster, Cetus, to ravage Aethiopia as divine punishment. Andromeda is stripped and chained naked to a rock as a sacrifice…
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01 Work, Interpretations of Olympian deities, Francesco Furini’s Venus Mourning the Death of Adonis, with footnotes #32
One day while out hunting Adonis was slain by a wild boar, an accident Venus has always dreaded. Hearing his dying groans as she flew overhead in her chariot, she came down to aid him, but was too late. In the place where the earth was stained with Adonis’ blood, anemones sprouted. In Greek mythology,…
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04 Paintings, Contemporary Interpretations of Olympian deities; Betsy Podlach’s Leda And the Swan, Cupid and Psyche, István Cene gál’s Nymph and Brian Smyth’s Andromeda, with footnotes, #3
Cupid and Psyche is a story originally from Metamorphoses, written in the 2nd Century AD by Lucius Apuleius Madaurensis. It concerns the overcoming of obstacles to the love between Psyche and Cupid, and their ultimate union in a sacred marriage. Although the only extended narrative from antiquity is that of Apuleius, Eros and Psyche appear…
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11 Works, Artists’ Interpretations of Hellenic legends, The Rape of Deianira, with footnotes #188
Deianira, Deïanira was a Calydonian princess in Greek mythology whose name translated as “man-destroyer” or “destroyer of her husband”. She was the wife of Heracles and, in late Classical accounts, his unwitting murderer, killing him with the poisoned Shirt of Nessus. She is the main character in Sophocles’ play Women of Trachis… Please follow link…
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01 Painting, Tales of Mermaids, Evelyn De Morgan’s Sea Maidens, with Footnotes, #13
The Sea Maidens shows five long-haired mermaids. Their tails are inside the water, while their upper bodies are outside. They affectionately hold hands, four of them almost embracing, reaching for a fifth one, slightly separated from the group. It is a delicate depiction of sisterhood; it emanates strength by boasting an iconography of femininity at…
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04 Works, Contemporary Interpretation of Olympian deities, Antoine Renault’s Mermaids, with footnotes #31
A mermaid is a marine creature with the head and upper body of a female human and the tail of a fish. Mermaids appear in the folklore of many cultures worldwide. The first stories appeared in ancient Assyria. Mermaids can be benevolent or beneficent… Please follow link for full post
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01 Work, Olympian deities, Paolo de Matteis’ Amphitrite, with footnotes #30
Amphitrite, in Greek mythology, the goddess of the sea, wife of the god Poseidon, and one of the 50 (or 100) daughters (the Nereids) of Nereus and Doris (the daughter of Oceanus). Poseidon chose Amphitrite from among her sisters as the Nereids performed a dance on the isle of Naxos. Refusing his offer of marriage, she…
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01 Work, Olympian deities, Nicolas Bertin’s Perseus and Andromeda, with footnotes #31
In Greek mythology, Andromeda is the daughter of the Aethiopian king Cepheus and his wife Cassiopeia. When Cassiopeia’s hubris leads her to boast that Andromeda is more beautiful than the Nereids, Poseidon sends a sea monster, Cetus, to ravage Aethiopia as divine punishment. Andromeda is stripped and chained naked to a rock as a sacrifice…
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01 Work, Olympian deities, Angelo Josef Graf von Courten’s Die Nixe, with footnotes #29
The Nixe is a term widely used in German-speaking countries for a female or male water spirit; a kind of supernatural being found in the folklore of many cultures. Angelo Josef Graf von Courten (born January 10, 1848 in Bologna , † December 15, 1925 in Munich ) was a German painter of Swiss descent. Courten came…
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04 Paintings of Irish mythology, Morrígan, with footnotes
Morrígan (also known as the Morrigu) is a figure from Irish mythology who appears to have been considered a goddess of battle, strife, and sovereignty. She sometimes appears in the form of a crow, flying above the warriors, and in the Ulster Cycle she also takes the forms of an eel, a wolf and a…
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39 Works by 39 Old Masters Artists Embedded with Helen of Troy, with Footnotes
Throughout his career, Gustave Moreau showed remarkable fidelity to the character of Hélène de Troie by devoting an exceptionally rich ensemble to her. Main rival of Salomé in the heart of the artist, the most beautiful woman of antiquity appeared in his work in 1852, then returned triumphantly in the company of Galatea on the…
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01 Work, Interpretations of Olympian deities, Nicolaus Knupfer’s Theseus Proposing to Phaedra, with footnotes #29
Phaedra is a tragic play by Roman playwright Seneca. The play tells the story of Theseus’ wife Phaedra and her lust for her stepson, Hippolytus. However, Hippolytus despises women and wishes to remain pure, preferring to hunt and live in the woods. After Phaedra declares her love, Hippolytus lashes out and strikes to kill her for…
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01 Work – Paintings from Norse mythology, Stepan Fedorovich Kolesnikoff’s Mythological scene, with footnotes – #04
Stepan Fedorovitch Kolesnikoff (1879, Russian Empire – 1955, Belgrade, Yugoslavia), was a distinguished Realist painter. Kolesnikoff was born in a peasant family in a southern province of the Russian Empire. His artistic potentials were recognized early. In 1897 he started attending an artistic school in Odessa, one of the topmost of its kind in the…
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Salvador Dalí’s 12 Apostles (Knights of the Round Table) Suite of 12 Lithographs c. 1972, with footnotes
Though there is some discussion surrounding the identification of the figures, they are accepted to be: Christ, James the Lesser, James the Greater, “The Watcher” and Saints Andrew, Mark, John, Peter, Thomas, Jude, Matthew, and Phillip Identification has been made by examination of the images for symbols associated with each of them. More weight has…
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