Three tasks: yoking the fire-breathing bulls and ploughing in dragon’s teeth to generate an army, then getting past the fleece’s guardian dragon.
Rubens
The North Wind carries off his betrothed, in eight superb paintings by Rubens, Boucher, Evelyn De Morgan, and others. A miniature history of painting.
This wonderful late oil sketch by Rubens shows a man walking his dog on a Mediterranean beach. It tells a fascinating story of an ancient industry, and the dress of the most wealthy and privileged few.
One king trusts his daughter into the care of his son-in-law, another king. What happens next is horrific, and shown brilliantly by Artemisia Gentileschi and Rubens.
More popular today than in classical Greece, these warrior women could have been an opportunity to redress the balance between genders. Here they are at war.
Rich in wordplay, this story is almost unique to Ovid. It was oddly prescient of his own later banishment too.
Marie’s plan to bring peace to Europe is implemented in double royal weddings. The paintings say it brought a new age to France, but history says otherwise.
An introduction to some of the history and panegyric behind Rubens’ Marie de’ Medici Cycle, in the Louvre.
A shocking story of the abduction of a young girl by the king of the underworld, but told with sensitivity. And accompanied by some outstanding paintings.
Was Cyrus an evil conqueror with a lust for blood? How a legendary queen became a role model for European monarchs, with the visual support of Rubens.
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