Increasingly popular during the 19th century, stories of people going from rags to riches have seldom appeared in paintings. Here are Cinderella and Robin Hood, and an explanation.
Burne-Jones
How well do paintings of the stories of Perseus and Theseus fit Booker’s Seven Basic Plots? As he gives these as examples of Overcoming the Monster, do his stages work?
From his battle with the sea monster to the deadly fight at his wedding to Andromeda, paintings by Titian, Veronese, Burne-Jones, Vallotton and others.
From conception in the rape of Danaë by Zeus, to his mission to bring the head of Medusa to King Polydectes, paintings by Klimt, Burne-Jones, and others.
A selection of meals eaten outdoors, by the gods, in Boccaccio’s Decameron, Manet’s controversial luncheon, and by a boating party.
From Aphrodite to Vesta, a reference summary of all the major Classical goddesses, with links to individual accounts.
From Aesculapius to Zeus, key features of each of the major male deities in classical myths, and links to individual articles here.
Known from her wedding, which led to the Trojan War, and for being the mother of the Greek warrior Achilles, she is well-known in paintings.
Aglaea (representing splendor), Euphrosyne (mirth), and Thalia (good cheer), who together represent the better aspects of human nature, bit got Burne-Jones into trouble.
The daughter of a Jamaican slave, William Morris’s wife, three Greek cousins known as the Three Graces – all muses and models for Pre-Raphaelites.
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