How ancient Egyptians painted women white and men more swarthy in colour. Separately, colour coding of devils brought similar distinctions.
van Heemskerck
Daughter of the King of Sparta, abducted as a child by Theseus, rescued by her brothers, married to the King of Sparta, then given as a bribe in a divine beauty contest.
Zeus, disguised as a gander, raped Nemesis, who laid Helen as an egg. She became step-sister of Castor and Polydeuces, and went on to be abducted by Paris as Aphrodite’s bribe.
Finance by the spoils of the Temple of Jerusalem, a place of suffering and death, and for oppression of Christians. Success out of excess.
Fra Bartolomeo, Tintoretto, Blake, Merson, Tanner, and a very special nocturne by Adam Elsheimer show this popular story.
From 1450-1650, paintings of ‘Christian sibyls’ who foretold the birth of Christ, became important motifs for painting. Here’s a selection.
Paintings showing women spinning from around 1000 CE to the early 20th century, by Eakins, Tanner, Courbet, van Gogh, Breton, and others,
Gérôme’s ‘Ave Caesar’ was a visually stunning wide-angle spectacular, with its detailed reconstructions. Examined in the light of Claude, Girtin, Turner, and others.
It’s not a colour at all, say some, while the Impressionists wanted to banish it from the palette. But throughout the history of painting, the blackest black has remained vital.
Was she abducted, seduced, or seducer? Victim or whore? Ovid’s pair of letters between Helen and Paris raises questions which many artists have tried to tackle.
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