Applying thinner layers of paint, or glazes, developed optical effects that were widely used into the late 19th century, but have now fallen from favour.
Bloemaert
The god of the seasons and gardens falls in love with a devoted gardener, but can’t woo her successfully when posing as someone else.
Before 1700, the myth of Vertumnus and Pomona was popular, as was Mary Magdalene’s mistaking of the resurrected Christ as a gardener.
The consequences of pride, when all 14 of Niobe’s children are slaughtered by Apollo and Diane, but she’s unrepentant to the last.
The double pipe with reeds played by Marsyas in his doomed contest with Apollo, blown by the Sirens, and more.
Jupiter wants Io, but after raping her turns her into a cow for safe-keeping. Juno suspects, though, and puts the cow under the watchful hundred eyes of Argus.
As a Cyclops, Polyphemus had only one eye, whereas Juno’s servant Argus had a hundred or more. Here they are in paintings.
The colours you see in paintings today may have faded badly from their originals. Examples of madder lake, smalt and indigo.
Fading and colour change in paints has been well-described since 1400. Shown here in examples using indigo, it wasn’t properly investigated until the late 19th century.
From mythology, Mercury’s caduceus and the Aesculapian Staff, walking sticks as a device indicating age, and those carried by travellers.
The Eclectic Light Company 