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.
Rae
Significant paintings based on The Sleeping Beauty, Mariana and Mariana in the South, and Break, Break, Break.
The double pipe with reeds played by Marsyas in his doomed contest with Apollo, blown by the Sirens, and more.
the personification of vigilance, Mary Magdalen, in shadowplay, held by Florence Nightingale ‘the lady of the lamp’, and associated with overwork and tiredness.
Associated with Dionysus/Bacchus and his followers, it’s basically a staff decorated with plant matter. Seen here in different variants from Pompeii onwards.
Odysseus is lashed to the mast as his ship passes the Sirens without being lured away. He’s the only survivor after shipwreck, then is trapped with Calypso for seven years.
A figurative painter who specialised in orientalist fantasy and Biblical stories, and was the husband of Henrietta Rae, the pioneering feminist and painter.
An outline of the plot of Shakespeare’s greatest play, together with a selection of paintings, excluding those of the death of Ophelia.
The personification of the west wind, to the Greeks gentle and responsible for bringing the start of the growing season, and the abduction and rape of a nymph who became Flora.
Odysseus and his crew survive their encounter with the Sirens, but the hero has to endure 7 years with Calypso before he meets Nausicaä.
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