Cupid gets revenge on Apollo by making him fall in love with Daphne, and she refusing to co-operate. The result is her being transformed into the laurel.
Metamorphoses
Jupiter wipes out unworthy humans in a flood. One pious couple survive, and go on to re-create humanity transformed from stones. This leaves the monstrous Python to be killed by Apollo.
Book 1 of Ovid’s Metamorphoses start with an account of the creation, the four ages of man, then tells of the first transformation, of Lycaon into a (were)wolf.
The Roman poet whose poetic account of myths found a place in almost every workshop or studio in Europe between 1500-1850.
Cadmus’ daughter Semele is destroyed by Jupiter’s lightning, but her infant grows into Bacchus. Pentheus is then torn apart by bacchantes, and Cadmus and his wife are turned into snakes.
Cadmus, Europa’s brother, kills a dragon and sows its teeth to grow into the men who help him build Thebes. But his grandson Actaeon is killed when he catches Diana bathing.
The model for Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet, this couple committed suicide when each presumed they had brought the death of the other.
Fishing with rod and line plays a significant part in the myth of Daedalus, and adds calm and timelessness to many landscapes.
Moreau defined painting as “this language of symbol, myth and sign”, and this is his greatest expression of that.
We give presents at Christmas after the 3 kings. So what is myrrh, and what are its origins in paintings? A grim story of incest, deceit and metamorphosis.
The Eclectic Light Company 