Two birds associated with different beliefs: Hera or Juno’s peacocks, and the white dove as a physical manifestation of the Holy Spirit.
Waterhouse
Transformations of Chloris into Flora, Daphne into a laurel tree, and Actaeon into a stag which is promptly killed by his own hunting dogs.
A summary history from 1700 to the 20th century, with examples of major paintings, and links to each of the detailed articles in this series.
Invented by Paracelsus and popularised in a novella, poems and plays, Ondine became popular in painting, then in 1962 in medicine.
Shipwreck in The Tempest, forgotten Impressionists, a threshing machine, a weekend on the River Seine, a pair of portraits of Thomas and Susan Eakins, a pair of clowns, and more.
Modern interpretations of this popular traditional theme in Christian religious painting, from Pre-Raphaelite to the end of the 19th century.
Weaving turned yarn into fabric ready to make into garments. Associations include industry, passing time, fidelity, and the myth of Arachne.
The complicated story of Medea, who provided Jason with intelligence and potions to enable him to steal the Golden Fleece. A femme very fatale.
Paintings of sorceresses, who combine dark arts and seduction. Circe with Odysseus and Scylla, Melissa, Armida, Morgan le Fay and others.
Two new narrative themes that became distinctive in the mid-19th century were contemporary English poetry, and the legends of King Arthur.