Zeus, disguised as a gander, raped Nemesis, who laid Helen as an egg. She became step-sister of Castor and Polydeuces, and went on to be abducted by Paris as Aphrodite’s bribe.
Cogniet
A little of the history of Egypt, from Books of the Dead in 1300 BCE, up to Napoleon’s campaign there between 1798-1801.
One of the five ‘fathers’ of Impressionist, his style became painterly in the 1860s and he exhibited at the Salon until 1870 and in four Impressionist Exhibitions.
Born in southern Sweden, he won medals at the Royal Swedish Academy, and funds to travel to Europe. He ended up in Rome, where he married.
A banquet with a river god, a pitched battle at his friend’s wedding which turned into a full-scale war, a relationship involving incest, suicide and violent death, and the abduction of Helen – quite the career of a Greek hero.
The Prix de Rome changed in the 19th century. Its subjects became more obscure, and its successes few and far between.
With the exception of his early history paintings and a few portraits of men, his entire career was devoted to painting beautiful women.
The teacher of Caillebotte, Eakins, Munch, John Singer Sargent, Toulouse-Lautrec and many other artists. But almost forgotten himself.
The first of two looking at the telling of English legends in paintings: Robin Hood and his ‘Merry Men’, popular for the last 500 years.
After abandoning Ariadne on Naxos, he takes a succession of brides, battles with the Amazons, and fights for the Lapiths against the centaurs. But did he rape Helen? Paintings by Corinth, Waterhouse, Rubens, and more.
The Eclectic Light Company 