Some of the most haunting images in European art were painted using a mixture of pigment in molten beeswax for use on their mummies when they were interred at Fayum in Egypt.
Romanelli
Achilles’ ghost demands the sacrifice of Hecuba’s daughter in appeasement. Hecuba then blinds Polymestor for killing her son. Finally Aurora laments the death of her son Memnon.
The beautiful Orithyia is betrothed to the north wind of winter, Boreas, but is rejected by her father. He takes matters into his own hands, and sweeps her off to be his wife.
The Greeks destroy Troy, then sail away until caught in gales. Sheltering off Thrace Achilles ghost demands human sacrifice.
The north wind, cold and harbinger of winter, who abducted an Athenian princess in so many paintings. Also one painting which could show Euros, the east wind.
Painting with pigment mixing with molten wax is another ancient method. Haunting funerary portraits from 80-250 CE show how effective it can be.
Paintings of gladiatorial combat and martyrdom in the Colosseum had also been quite different before Gérôme’s ‘Ave Caesar’. Examples from Artemisia Gentileschi and others.
Troy is sacked and burning, and its women being taken away as trophies. Two stories stress the horror, as a princess is sacrificed for fair winds, and a callous murder is avenged.
The North Wind carries off his betrothed, in eight superb paintings by Rubens, Boucher, Evelyn De Morgan, and others. A miniature history of painting.
The Eclectic Light Company 