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Antique mythology in painting and art

Myth and legends closely intertwine with everyday life of inhabitant. For the modern viewer, narrative of mythological subjects seem commonplace in the paintings, but connoisseurs, who know the historical roots of the genre such as ancient mythology in painting, with a special flutter appreciate the art, with which world artists approached to creating images and scenes from fairytale characters life of ancient mythology.

Noel Kouapel - Apotheosis of Hercules

Noel Kouapel - Jupiter in a chariot between Justice and Grace

Jean-Baptiste Jouvenet - Apollo and Thetis

Michel Cornell Jr. - Zephyr and Flora

Michel Cornell Jr. - The Midas Court

Michel Cornell Jr. - Iris and Jupiter

Noel Kouapel - The Abduction of Deyanirs by Centaur Nessom

Rene-Antoine Wass - Iris and Sleeping Morpheus

Rene-Antoine Wass - The Birth of Minerva from the Head of Jupiter

Rene-Antoine Wass - Mercury and Argus

Rene-Antoine Wass - Apollo and Daphne

Charles de Lafosse - Apollo and Thetis

Noel Kouapel - Sacrifice to Jupiter

Charles de Lafosse - Sacrifice of Iphigenia

Noel Kouapel - Nymphs present Amalthea cornucopia

Nicolas-René Jallen the elder - Clement, turning into a sunflower

Nicolas-René Jallen the elder - Hyacinth turning into flowers

Rene-Antoine Wass-Minerva and Arachne

Rene-Antoine Wass - Minerva teaches the inhabitants of Rhodes the art of sculpture

René-Antoine Wass - The dispute between Minerva and Neptune about the name of Athens

Rene-Antoine Wass - Nebuchadnezzar and Semiramis lay the hanging gardens in Babylon

Hans von Aachen - Bacchus, Ceres and Cupid

Giuseppe Cesari, Chevalier d'Arpino - Perseus and Andromeda

Rubens and France Snyders - Kimon and Iphigenia

Frans Pourbus I - David and Abigail

Jan Bukhorst - Mercury falls in love with Hers

And so, ancient mythology. Why is ancient? Because "antigues" translated as "ancient" in Latin. Why is the painting? Because vivid images and imagination of artist gives to fictitious characters some physicality and become more fantasy. Masters inspired by ideas from stories of Greek and Roman mythology beginning from the Renaissance. In addition to well-known destinations, there was another branch - Pantheism. Moreover, the latter is more characteristic for Hellenic (Greek) masters. Its name "Pantheism" derives from the name "Pan" - the god of nature, goat-hoofed and excessively lewd. His images always endow with erect phallus and meet in amulets, statues and reliefs of Greek palaces. The picture "Pan" by Mikhail Vrubel was the most familiar for contemporaries. However, only those paintings become approximate to the "true" Pan that painted by Poussin Nicolas ("Pan and Syrinx"), Frans Snyders ("Ceres and Pan") and many other artists.

It appeal to the most common mythological tales, with characters multi-site in children and school books: Hercules, Medea and Persia, Pandora and Sirens - the viewer gets an opportunity and a kick out of beholding stories based on ancient Greek and Roman stories. This theme has a field day with the works of the Renaissance, Baroque and especially expressive in Caravaggio's motives and pupils and followers works of the great master. Technique in which painted fabulous creatures based on the play of light and shadow, with a muted background and thick light strokes of main heroes. This technique allows to "pull" the characters and creates even more depressing mood. But at the turn of the 19th century, when classicism took in hand the palette, the mood of paintings with mythological theme changed and became lighter and warm colours (Gustave Moreau - "Apollo and the Nine Muses" and "Orpheus", Gustav Klimt - "Pallas Athena", Hans Makart - "The Triumph of Ariadne", etc.). The canvases became truly fabulous and rainbow. Eroticism seeped in some works, in others - a kind of childishness, the third - allegory. Moreover, allegory and personification often use by masters to transfer their own perception in mythological plots. Artists had to study ancient literature to create such scenes, searching for the features of characters, and combine images with a book narration. Besides, inhabitants of that period, when canvas were panting, had a high demand for such stories. Artists not always worked for the benefit of its own predilections rather contrary to it, painstakingly combining the mythological beings with terrestrial peasants and nature, twisting own skills and audience wishes to see what it is called "a fairy-tale in reality".

images: Public domain

Art (painting) » Allegory, mythology, poetry » mythology and poetry

Pictures:

The Choice of Heracles :: Annibale Carracci	Jupiter, Mercury and the Virtue :: Dosso Dossi	Medea about to Kill her Children :: Eugene Delacroix
A Sea Nymph :: Michele Desubleo	Phaedra :: Alexandre Cabanel	Calliope :: Giuseppe Fagnani
Polyhymnia :: Giuseppe Fagnani	Erato at Her Lyre :: John William Godward	Heliodorus Driven from the Temple :: Bertholet Flemal
The sleeping Snow White :: Hans Makart	The Triumph of Ariadne :: Hans Makart	The Hunt of Diana (Draft) :: Hans Makart
Faun und Nymph (Pan und Flora) :: Hans Makart	Snow White the poisoned comb :: Hans Makart	Faticida :: Lord Frederick Leighton
The Triumph of Bacchus Neptune and Amphitrite :: Luca Giordano	Jupiter and Mercury at Philemon and Baucis :: Adam Elsheimer	Ali Baba abd the Forty Thieves :: Albert Goodwin
The Sleep of Endymion :: Anne-Louis Girodet de Roucy-Triosson	Homage to Diana :: Annibale Carracci	The Flight into Egypt :: Annibale Carracci
Triumph of Bacchus and Ariadne :: Annibale Carracci	The Rape of Europa :: Antonio Carracci	Mars Vanquishing Ignorance :: Antoon Claeissens
Icarius (Diomedes Wounding Aphrodite When She Tries To Recover The Body Of Aeneas) :: Arthur Heinrich Wilhelm Fitger	Amor Victorious :: Caravaggio	Bacchus :: Caravaggio
Medusa :: Caravaggio	Narcissus :: Caravaggio	Sick Bacchus :: Caravaggio
Bacchanale :: Conrad Grob	Sibyl :: Domenichino	The Maiden and the Unicorn :: Domenichino
Hero and Leander :: Domenico Feti	Aeneas and Achates on the Libyan Coast :: Dosso Dossi	Circe (or Melissa) :: Dosso Dossi
Sibyl :: Dosso Dossi	Witchcraft (Allegory of Hercules) :: Dosso Dossi	Oedipus and the Sphinx [detail] :: Fransois-Xavier Fabri
Oedipus and the Sphinx :: Fransois-Xavier Fabri	Diana and Actaeon (detail 2) :: Giuseppe Cesari	Aphrodite and Eros :: Henri Camille Danger
Paris And Helen :: Henri-Joseph Duwee	Reunion of Odysseus and Telemachus :: Henri-Lucien Doucet	The Golden Fleece :: Herbert James Draper
Wrath of the Sea God :: Herbert James Draper	Andromache Mourning Hector :: Jacques-Louis David	Antiochus and Stratonice :: Jacques-Louis David
The Courtship of Paris and Helen :: Jacques-Louis David	Diana with Her Hunting Dogs beside Kill :: Jan Fyt	Coresus Sacrificing himselt to Save Callirhoe :: Jean-Honore Fragonard
Psyche showing her Sisters her Gifts from Cupid :: Jean-Honore Fragonard	Anacreon, Bacchus and Cupid :: Jean-Leon Gerome	Polyphemus :: Jean-Leon Gerome
The Bacchante :: Jean-Leon Gerome	Elaine :: John Atkinson Grimshaw	The Return of Neptune :: John Singleton Copley
The Barque of Charon :: Jose Benlliure y Gil	Abduction :: Jules-Elie Delauney	Orpheus and Euridice :: Louis Ducis
Perseus Fighting Phineus and his Companions :: Luca Giordano	Psyche Honoured by the People :: Luca Giordano	Psyche Served by Invisible Spirits :: Luca Giordano
Psyche's Parents Offering Sacrifice to Apollo :: Luca Giordano	The Forge of Vulcan :: Luca Giordano	Cupid and Psyche :: Orazio Gentleschi
Aphrodite :: Robert Fowler	Venus And Cupid :: Robert Fowler	Rinaldo and Armida :: Sir Antony van Dyck
Hero and Leander :: William Etty	Troilus and Cressida in the Garden of Pandarus :: Edward Henry Corbould	Pandoras Box :: Paul Cesaire Gariot
Punishment of Cain :: Theodore Chasseriau	Pandora :: William Adolphe Bouguereau	Venus and Adonis :: Jacopo Amigoni
Taking Leave of Andromanche :: Jean, II Restout	Cinderella :: Charles Landseer	Ophelia :: Charles Sillem Lidderdale
The Daughter of Herodias :: George Frederick Watts	Matilda formerly called Beatrice :: John William Waterhouse	One Thousand and One Nights :: Edwin Lord Weeks
The Bard :: John Byam Liston Shaw	Hercules at the Lake Stymphale :: Gustave Moreau	Sappho :: Gustave Moreau
Death of Arthur :: James Archer	Desdemona :: Theodore Chasseriau	Ophelia :: Francis Edouard Zier
The Decameron :: Franz Xavier Winterhalter	Ariadne :: George Frederick Watts	Ariadne on the Island of Naxos :: George Frederick Watts
The Minotaur :: George Frederick Watts	The Banquet of Esther and Ahasuerus :: Jan Victors	Constance In Captivity :: John Riley Wilmer
"I am Half-sick of Shadows", said the Lady of Shalott :: John William Waterhouse	A Mermaid :: John William Waterhouse	Apollo and Daphne :: John William Waterhouse
Ariadne :: John William Waterhouse	Circe' Invidiosa :: John William Waterhouse	Circe' offering the Cup to Ulysses :: John William Waterhouse
Echo and Narcissus :: John William Waterhouse	Fair Rosamund :: John William Waterhouse	Flora :: John William Waterhouse
Flora :: John William Waterhouse	Hylas and the Nymphs :: John William Waterhouse	Jason and Medea :: John William Waterhouse
Juliet :: John William Waterhouse	The beautiful dam merciless :: John William Waterhouse	Lamia :: John William Waterhouse
Lamia :: John William Waterhouse	Mariana in the South :: John William Waterhouse	Miranda - The Tempest :: John William Waterhouse
Narcissus :: John William Waterhouse	Nymphs finding the Head of Orpheus :: John William Waterhouse	Ophelia :: John William Waterhouse
Ophelia :: John William Waterhouse	Pandora :: John William Waterhouse	Penelope and the Suitors :: John William Waterhouse
Psyche Entering Cupid's Garden :: John William Waterhouse	Psyche Opening the Golden Box :: John William Waterhouse	Saint Cecilia :: John William Waterhouse
The Danaides :: John William Waterhouse	The Lady Clare :: John William Waterhouse	The Lady of Shalott :: John William Waterhouse
The Lady of Shalott :: John William Waterhouse	The Magic Circle :: John William Waterhouse	The Siren :: John William Waterhouse
The Sorceress :: John William Waterhouse	Thisbe :: John William Waterhouse	Tristan and Isolde with the Potion :: John William Waterhouse
Mars, God of War :: Diego Rodriguez de Silva y Velazquez 1640, Museo del Prado, Madrid	Mars and Venus :: Paolo Veronese c. 1570, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York Picture size is 206 x 161 cm, oil on canvas.	Mars and Neptune 1575-1578, Palazzo Ducale, Venice The size of the painting 250 x 180 cm, oil on canvas.
Mars, Venus and Cupid :: Spranger Bartholomeus 1590s, Gallery Room, Eggenberg Palace Picture size 95 x 60 cm, oil on canvas.?	Mercury, Venus and Mars :: Bartholomeus Spranger 1586-1587, Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna Picture size 108 x 80 cm, copper, oil.	Mars, Venus and Vulcan :: Joachim Wtewael 1600-1610, Mauritshuis, Hague Size of the picture 21 cm x 16 cm, oil on canvas.
Minerva Sending Away Mars from Peace and Prosperity :: Jacopo Tintoretto 1576-1577, Palazzo Ducale, Venice ?

Hide Comments (1)

User User Rating: 400 June 17, 2018

Myths always represent stories in a somewhat exaggerated way, bringing the situation to an extreme degree of drama or tragedy, and their heroes always have unsurpassed beauty, power, they are infinitely vindictive or humble, wise or foolish. And the painters, of course, are attracted to the opportunity to portray such vivid characters. It is interesting to observe how differently artists imagine them. For example, "Medusa" by Caravaggio impresses with it's completely human face in combination [Expand]

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