Cimon is a problem child until he sees Iphigenia. He reforms, but her parents refuse his proposal. When he abducts her as she is being taken to be married off, everything goes wrong.
Boccaccio
Three brothers discover their unmarried sister’s secret lover. They take him to the country, kill him and bury his body. She exhumes him, and takes his head away to hide in a pot of basil.
A gruesome tale of a daughter’s lover killed by her father, and his heart cut out. Also of one of Hogarth’s few failed paintings.
A bizarre story of a ghost who repeatedly kills the ghost of the woman who spurned his love, and how it leads to a successful marriage. Illustrated by Botticelli.
Written by Giovanni Boccaccio by 1352 and revised in 1370-71, it consists of a hundred stories told by 7 women and 3 men who fled Florence during the Black Death. Some of those tales have been extensively painted.
A popular theme for paintings only after Keats’ poem was published shortly after his death in 1821. A gruesome love tragedy beloved of the Pre-Raphaelites.
Many wonderful paintings of the opening scene of this short story, but none even hints at its real plot involving three abductions and two murders.
From Ovid’s Metamorphoses to Goethe’s Faust, here are eight classic works of literature accompanied by superb paintings and illustrations. All free.
Reading many European paintings depends on identifying classical deities shown. This new series helps you do that, and understand what’s going on.
The seven painted stories, with paintings by Mei, Millais, Leighton, Botticelli, Stillman, and Lancret, and links to each article.
The Eclectic Light Company 