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Boccaccio’s Decameron: paintings of Cimon and Iphigenia
In the 650 years since Giovanni Boccaccio’s Decameron started to sweep across Europe, this collection of a hundred short stories has proved one of the most enduring works of literature. I have already...
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Boccaccio’s Decameron: paintings of Lisabetta’s tragedy
Some of the hundred individual stories told by Boccaccio in his Decameron only attained fame much later. A good example is the tragic tale of Lisabetta related by Filomena on the fourth day, when it...
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Changing Paintings: 47 The cypress tree, and the abduction of Ganymede
After telling the tragedy of Orpheus and Eurydice, Ovid relates a series of shorter myths involving transformations. He introduces these by listing each tree that gave Orpheus shade as he sang in...
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Reading visual art: 176 Peace, mythical and ancient
Painting war and conflict is demanding on composition and technique, but how about painting peace? In this week’s two articles examining how to read visual art, I show how some of the masters have...
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Reading visual art: 177 Peace, modern
In yesterday’s article, I showed examples of paintings using classical deities and resolved conflicts in ancient history to depict the concept of peace. Today I move on to more recent and modern...
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Changing Paintings: 48 Killed by Apollo’s discus
After Orpheus has told of the abduction of Ganymede, he moves on to tell of another shameful passion, that of Apollo for the young Spartan, Hyacinthus. One midday, Apollo and Hyacinthus undressed, as...
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Reading visual art: 178 Knitting, past and pastime
Knitting, and its close relative crochet, form strands of wool or yarn into loops that assemble the fibres into fabric. Although machines have long been used to make knitted garments commercially,...
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Reading visual art: 179 Knitting, poverty
This second article considering the reading of knitting and crochet in paintings concludes with its most frequent use, as a sign of the peasant and poverty. This first became prominent in the social...
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Changing Paintings: 49 Galatea transformed from a statue
After Ovid has told of the tragic death of Hyacinthus, he moves on to one of his most unusual myths. Almost all the myths of transformation gathered in his Metamorphoses involve one or more people...
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Changing Paintings: 50 The making of myrrh and birth of Adonis
Ovid’s sequel to the story of Pygmalion’s marriage to his former statue is a darker tale of incest, transformation, and obstetrics in the arboretum, resulting in myrrh and the unique birth of Adonis....
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Reading visual art: 180 The holly and the ivy
The association between two plants, holly and ivy, with the feast of Christmas appears peculiarly British, and best expressed in the traditional carol The Holly and the Ivy. Apparently, holly has been...
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Painting poetry: John Keats
A few weeks ago I featured paintings of one of Boccaccio’s stories from his Decameron, retold in 1818 by the British poet John Keats (1795-1821) in his Isabella, or the Pot of Basil. Today’s article...
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Painting poetry: Alfred, Lord Tennyson
The most painted of the poems of Alfred, Lord Tennyson are those of his Arthurian narrative Idylls of the King, that I have recently incorporated into my long series on paintings of Arthurian legends....
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Painting a suspicious death
In the final quarter of the nineteenth century, paintings followed the literary trend into detective stories, first posing the viewer an open-ended narrative, then inviting them to be a detective for...
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Changing Paintings: 51 The race between Hippomenes and Atalanta
After Ovid has told the bizarre myth of the birth of Adonis, he inserts a more straightforward tale about a couple who race against one another, and their unfortunate fate. Adonis grew up to be a most...
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Reading visual art: 181 Magpie
The magpie in its various species is common throughout much of the world, and in Europe has become associated with various folk tales and behaviours. A member of the family Corvidae (crows), it’s smart...
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Changing Paintings: 52 Death of Adonis
Following her story of the transformation of Hippomenes and Atalanta, Venus resumes the account of her affair with Adonis, whom she had warned of the dangers of lions and savage beasts. John William...
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Changing Paintings: 53 The death of Orpheus
Ovid ended Book Ten of his Metamorphoses with the death of Adonis, lover of Venus, when he was gored in the groin by a wild boar. He starts Book Eleven with another tragic death, this time of the great...
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Reading Visual Art: 182 Deer
Deer are among the animals that appear in the oldest known paintings in caves in Europe. Although relatively rare in works of the modern era, they play some unusual roles. In this brief survey of their...
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Changing Paintings: 54 How Midas got his touch and his ears
In a complete contrast to the death of Orpheus, the opening myth in Book Eleven of the Metamorphoses, Ovid continues with two lighter and humorous tales about King Midas. Once Bacchus had turned the...
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