The story of Orestes, son of Agamemnon, King of Mycenae and commander of the Greek forces in the Trojan War, who was murdered by his wife.
narrative
The pair meet a Duke and Duchess who have already read the adventures of Don Quixote, and play the game that he’s a knight errant.
An early photo by Julia Margaret Cameron, and paintings by Vasnetsov, Rochegrosse, Walter Crane and a whole series by Lovis Corinth.
Paintings of knights in armour from Raphael in c 1502, through Ingres’ rescue of Angelica, to Arthurian legends and the Pre-Raphaelite movement.
Comedy is unusual in paintings, and where it occurs, it’s more usually a visual joke. But there are exceptions in a tale-within-a-tale from Homer.
Finding an empty boat on the bank of the Ebro, the pair drift out on a new adventure to rescue a knight or queen in distress. The result is disaster.
Don Quixote runs amok at a puppet show, destroying all the puppets, then has to beat a hasty retreat when Sancho brays out of turn.
The fourth ‘basic plot’ is the story of voyage and return, for which we turn to Ovid’s account of this couple, and a dozen superb paintings. But does the model fit?
How paintings of the Aeneid, Jason and the Golden Fleece, and Homer’s Odyssey match up with the basic plot of The Quest.
A mule loaded with weapons leads them to an inn, where they’re told the story of the villagers who were going to fight over their braying. Then a puppeteer arrives with a performing ape.
The Eclectic Light Company 