Waved by Circe and Medea, later in Tasso’s ‘Jerusalem Delivered’, and by Morgan le Fay in Arthurian legend. Paintings by Poussin, Waterhouse and others.
Rossetti
Gambling as a sure road to Hell, with Bosch, Caravaggio, Georges de la Tour, Hogarth, Géricault, Courbet, Rossetti, and others.
The most prominent in paintings, Pandora’s box was really a jar, and didn’t become a popular theme until the late 19th century.
Sleeping Beauty, a morning nude, in sickness, and the deathbed. Killed in bed, two unusual depictions of the Virgin Mary in bed, and one of a bed floating on the River Seine.
From his conception in an adulterous deception arranged by Merlin, and drawing a sword from an anvil, to his death following wounds inflicted by the dying Mordred.
The life and death of Joan of Arc painted by Paul Delaroche, Ingres, John Everett Millais, Dante Gabriel Rossetti, Annie Swynnerton, and others.
Guenevere becomes a nun, Lancelot finds and she refuses to see him again. After her death, he buries her with Arthur, then dies himself.
What time of day is it? How cast shadows can help or confound, a painting showing Donati’s comet that can be timed precisely, and difficulties with indoor paintings.
Perceval’s sister dies to save the life of a lady, Lancelot achieves the grail, then Galahad, Bors and Perceval do, but only one of them lives to tell the tale.
Saying it with flowers from the Pre-Raphaelites, scattering opium poppies, drowning with forget-me-nots, and choosing between camellias and violets.