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Changing Paintings: 15 Pyramus and Thisbe
Ovid makes a clean break at the start of the fourth book of his Metamorphoses by introducing a whole team of narrators, the daughters of Minyas, who take it in turns to tell us stories within their...
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Reading visual art: 128 Donkey
Most of the equines in paintings are horses, but a few are those beasts of burden, donkeys, mules or asses. Without getting too deep into distinctions between them, here are some examples of donkeys at...
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The Truthful Vision of Jean-Léon Gérôme 3
After his series of paintings with major classical themes, in 1861 Jean-Léon Gérôme changed again, with three works concerning themselves with prostitution. It’s worth remembering in this context that...
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Changing Paintings: 16 Adultery and Unrequited love
After the first of the daughters of Minyas has finished telling the tragedy of Pyramus and Thisbe, the second daughter starts telling her story. As is so often the case in Ovid’s Metamorphoses, we get...
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Reading visual art: 129 Heron
Among the birds that appear not infrequently in paintings is the European grey heron, a large wader common throughout Europe, Asia and Africa. Its appearance and size are sufficient to make it...
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The Truthful Vision of Jean-Léon Gérôme 4
As German forces closed on Paris in 1870, at the height of the Franco-Prussian War, Jean-Léon Gérôme fled to London, returned to Paris briefly in the autumn/fall, then went back to London. He finally...
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Paintings of the fallen woman: 1 Downward slope
In the nineteenth century several narratives became popular themes in literature and painting, among them that of the ‘fallen woman’. This weekend, as part of my occasional series examining narratives...
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Paintings of the fallen woman: 2 Salvation or decline?
During the nineteenth century paintings telling the story of the fallen woman had become popular, following an innovative moralising series painted early in the previous century by William Hogarth, and...
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Changing Paintings: 17 Hermaphroditus
Once the second daughter of Minyas has completed her story of Leucothoe and Clytie’s love for the Sun, the third daughter takes her turn. Just as the first daughter did, she starts by tantalising us by...
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Changing Paintings: 18 Ino and the fall of the house of Cadmus
With the tales of the daughters of Minyas completed, and the three of them transformed into bats, Ovid returns to complete his chronicle of the fall of the house of Cadmus. At this stage, Cadmus, the...
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Reading visual art: 130 Wand
As every reader of Harry Potter novels knows, those who work magic normally do so with the aid of their wand, a short stick similar to the baton used to control an orchestra by its conductor....
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The Truthful Vision of Jean-Léon Gérôme 6
In the same year that Jean-Léon Gérôme painted himself at work on his marble figure of Tanagra in The Artist’s Model, 1895, he revisited two classical myths, telling them in unusual if not unique ways....
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Changing Paintings: 19 Perseus rescues Andromeda
The transformation of Cadmus and Harmonia into snakes completes Ovid’s account of the Theban cycle. His switch to start telling stories about Perseus is abrupt, referring in passing to Perseus’ mother,...
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Reading visual art: 131 Reed pipes
As well as the lyre, wind instruments have been popular in paintings. These are normally a single or double pipe, known in Ancient Greek as the aulos (αὐλός), a reed instrument related to the modern...
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Changing Paintings: 20 Perseus kills Medusa
When Perseus has rescued Andromeda from the jaws of the sea monster, he makes offerings to the gods and prepares for his wedding to his newly-won bride. It’s then, at his wedding feast, that Ovid has...
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Reading visual art: 132 Aulos, pipe or flute
According to Greek mythology, the goddess Athena invented a musical instrument consisting of a double pipe with reeds, named the aulos (αὐλός), and related to the modern oboe or bagpipes. When the...
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Reading visual art: 133 Bagpipes
No one knows when the aulos was fitted with an airtight bag to become a set of bagpipes, although there are claims of an ancient origin that could date back to 1000 BCE in Anatolia. During the Middle...
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Changing Paintings: 21 The fate of Phineus, and the Muses on Helicon
Ovid starts the fifth book of his Metamorphoses at the wedding feast of Perseus and Andromeda, just after the groom has made the greatest wedding speech of all time, describing how he beheaded Medusa...
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Reading visual art: 134 Flags A
Flags and standards probably originated with land battles, where they have been used extensively for identification. Even before battle is joined, working out which battalion is whose can be difficult....
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Reading visual art: 135 Flags B
From their military and maritime origins, flags steadily became symbols of nationhood. This is best seen in the case of France’s tricolour. Léon Cogniet (1794–1880), July 1830, or The Flags (study)...
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