Glaucus’ attempt to get Circe to put a spell on Scylla, to make her love him, backfires. Wonderful paintings by Waterhouse, van der Neer, Henry Fuseli, and others.
Waterhouse
In the hands, and brushes, of great artists, a religious set-piece becomes a succession of marvellous and highly innovative paintings.
After he lost Eurydice, Orpheus scorned the company of women. For this, a frenzied mob of Bacchantes overwhelm him, and tear him apart, for which Bacchus is not pleased.
Venus had been terrified of Adonis going hunting, and cautioned him about going near savage beasts. But he wasn’t to be put off. Superb paintings by Veronese, Titian, Rubens, and others.
Wood nymphs, Dryads, and Hamadryads, painted by Evelyn De Morgan, Félicien Rops, Walter Crane, JW Waterhouse, and others. And who dresses up as wood nymphs today?
Six of the best stories and the finest paintings from the first half of Metamorphoses, from Daphne’s transformation into the laurel, to Echo and Narcissus.
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.
Two different legends about Sir Lancelot and a woman falling in love with him. Both are told here with a selection of fine paintings.
One famous painting of Hypatia, based on Queen Victoria’s favourite novel, and a handful of others – a fascinating glimpse of a promising artist.
She has been a symbol of French nationalism, of the revanchism following the Franco-Prussian War, and then of early feminism: some wonderful paintings of Joan’s divine visions.
