Is this Hecate, triple-headed goddess of the night, with owl and bats, or another of Blake’s mythology, representing spiritual beauty? A misidentified painting explained.
de Rossi
The scales of justice, prominent on many courts of law, and Vedders’ warning of corrupt legislation, for weighing souls entering paradise, or apples in a Brittany market.
Their use by armies of the distant past, in the war against Troy, the sack of Rome, the Battle of Issus, by Alexander the Great, and in Crusades.
Key parts of the background of paintings of the story of the rape of the Sabine Women, this hill was originally a fortress, then the major temple to Jupiter.
The Gauls took the whole city of Rome, apart from its Capitol, but were then effectively put under siege themselves. The city was looted and sacked.
A murky figure who is distinguished by being triple-bodied. Associated with crossroads, the moon and night, and sorcery.
The story of Bathsheba and King David involves adultery and murder, and ultimately the triumph of power not virtue. Early paintings up to Artemisia Gentileschi.
The story of the Roman general who was made sole ruler of Rome for five terms, and saw the occupying Gauls off twice.
The visual tradition of a stairway to heaven appears quite recent. I propose that Blake was its originator.
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