They tried to lure Odysseus and his crew to their deaths, and the same with Jason and his Argonauts. With the head of a beautiful woman and the legs of a bird, their singing was alluring to sailors.
Hofheinz-Döring
Waiting the knight’s end, watching a sorceress, flying over a wheat field, or in front of a sleigh. Wherever they go they seem sinister.
Painted accounts of the great flood from Genesis, by Michelangelo, Elsheimer, Thomas Cole, JMW Turner and others.
Bad girls whose beautiful voices lured sailors to their deaths, so that the women could eat them. Paintings by Etty, Moreau, Waterhouse, Rae, Nash and others.
From Böcklin and Waterhouse to Vincent van Gogh and Egon Schiele, many 19th century artists used crows as a symbol.
Based more on the legend of Johann Faust, here’s a summary of the second part of Goethe’s play, with paintings and illustrations for it.
Drinking in one of the oldest bars in Leipzig gets the pair into trouble, so they move on to get a witch to rejuvenate Faust. He then lusts after Gretchen.
Faust signs his contract with the devil in his own blood. Paintings by Ary Scheffer and others, and an engraving by Delacroix tell this story vividly.
Viewed as classic and fit for narrative painting, Faust is about good and evil, a powerful story which has inspired powerful paintings.
Including superb paintings by Zorn, Marie Spartali Stillman, Boldini, van Gogh, Cézanne, Sargent, Demuth, and Signac.
The Eclectic Light Company 