One of Ovid’s weirdest tales, in which Juno convinces the pregnant Semele to demand her lover Jupiter reveals himself, resulting in her death, caesarian section and his surrogate pregnancy.
Ricci
The wedding feasts of Peleus and Thetis, Pirithous and Hippodame, Perseus and Andromeda, and a more peaceful banquet thrown by Achelous.
A simple story of an unsuccessful attempt at abduction and rape becomes a compositional struggle. It also results in the death of Heracles.
Is that the god Cupid, a Cupid, a putto, an amorino, or a cherub? The differences explained and illustrated in paintings by Botticelli, Titian, Raphael and others.
From the Renaissance, by convention dreams were shown as a dream view set within a framing real view. Examples by Raphael, Tintoretto and others.
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.
How we got from one of the most senior gods, and a winged young man, to a chubby infant armed with a bow and arrow, let alone an unknown former saint.
From his battle with the sea monster to the deadly fight at his wedding to Andromeda, paintings by Titian, Veronese, Burne-Jones, Vallotton and others.
One of the most frequently painted of the classical deities, this is out of all proportion to her tiny role in the pantheon. From Ricci to Waterhouse.
The curious legendary origin of a now vanished temple to Aesculapius on Tiber Island in Rome, shown in paintings and engravings.