With Achilles refusing to take any part in the war against Troy, defeat is looming for the Greeks. His close friend Patroclus drives the Trojans back, but is killed by Hector. Achilles is thrown into deep grief.
narrative
Achilles, leading his Myrmidons, is key to the Greek successes in capturing the Troad outside the city of Troy. But when Agamemnon takes his concubine, Achilles is angry and withdraws from the fighting.
After killing the usurper Pelias, Jason and Medea flee to live in Corinth. But he is offered the hand of Glauce, so abandons Medea, and their lives fall apart.
More myth and Symbolism, with the Pleiades, Fates, and Fortuna, followed by large murals and a mosaic in the Library of Congress.
Born and brought up in New York City, he trained in Paris then travelled to Italy. He painted tales from the 1001 Nights, and in 1870 one of the earliest symbolist images by an American artist.
The devil’s darning needles have had a bad press, and appear in just a few paintings. Here’s a vanitas still life, a meal for chaffinches, and some stranger associations.
To enable Theseus to retrace his steps out of the Labyrinth, Ariadne gives him a ball of thread, in return for which he promises to marry her. Once the couple escape to the island of Naxos, Theseus abandons her and sails back to Athens.
A painting commissioned by the Grand Duke of Tuscany towards the end of the 30 Years’ War in Europe, details with its figures the suffering resulting from war, rather than the triumph of victory.
A painting for England’s King Charles I to encourage him to make peace with Spain, left by Rubens in 1630. Its figures make clear the meaning of war, as explained here.
Do you know the difference between a caduceus and the rod of Asclepius, what each means? Paintings by William Blake, Renoir, and others explain.
The Eclectic Light Company 