An association made in a traditional British Christmas carol found only exceptionally in paintings, including two ‘problem pictures’ from the 19th century.
Carracci
Pitched battles at the weddings of Hippodame and Pirithous, and Andromeda and Perseus. The Trojan War resulting from the wedding of Thetis and Peleus, and turning water into wine with Veronese.
Myths of the strange births of Venus, Bacchus, Helen and Adonis, the Nativity, and Ford Madox Brown’s son.
Myths of Perseus and Atlas, Philemon and Baucis, and the peasants of Lycia teach the ancient code of hospitality to strangers.
Jason is given three tasks, in which he is aided by Medea the sorceress. First he yokes a team of fire-breathing bulls to plough a field, then sows dragon’s teeth, before the prize of the Golden Fleece.
In some of the earliest European paintings, the Fall of Man, the fable of the cat’s paw, in Vanitas paintings, and for their mischief and mayhem.
Goddess Latona gives birth to twins Apollo and Diana, but local peasants refuse to let her drink from their lake, so they’re turned into frogs.
The wedding of Perseus to Andromeda turns into a pitched battle, with many turned to stone by Medusa’s face. Then 9 daughters challenge the Muses to a contest.
When the nymph Salmacis falls in passionate love with the son of Hermes and Aphrodite, he resists, and they are joined together in single body.
The Lycians turned into frogs when they refused the goddess Latona a drink of water, and the sorceress Medea accompanied by toads.
