Allegory of an element air: Apollo and Eos by Luka RudmanPosavje Museum Brežice
Allegory of an element air: Apollo and Eos
The Greco-Roman god Apollo and Greek goddess Eos (Aurora in Roman mythology) riding in a sun chariot pulled by doves and surrounded by birds are an allegory of the element air.
Apollo
The god of light, sun and spring, moral purity and art - especially music.
Apollo and Eos by Srečko RožmanPosavje Museum Brežice
He is holding a shield with the inscription ‘Citius ventos et nubila pellit’ (quicker to chase away the winds and the clouds) in his left hand and has completely surrendered himself to the guidance of the goddess.
Eos
Aurora, the Roman goddess of dawn, the protector of fine weather, clad in a drapery moved by a gust of wind, pilots a golden chariot by controlling a pair of white doves through a dark cloud into the waking morning, where a rainbow arches across the entire sky.
Zefir
The darkness of the night is also chased away by Zephyrus, the son of Eos (Aurora) and astrological deity Astraios, clad in a turquoise drapery.
Allegory of an element air: Apollo and Eos by Luka RudmanPosavje Museum Brežice
Zephyrus, the messenger of spring, stands for the west wind, which brings moisture and rain, much needed in the spring for plant growth.
Underneath the carriage, a variety of birds, also heralding a new day, have taken to the air. They include the common tern (Sterna hirundo), the redwing (Turdus iliacus), a parrot accompanied by a mistle thrush (Turdus viscivorus).
Allegory of an element air: Apollo and Eos by Luka RudmanPosavje Museum Brežice
A pair of the great tit (Parus major) birds on a lintel, the great spotted woodpecker (Dendrocopos major), domestic pigeons (Columba livia domestica), the hoopoe (Upupa epops), the smew (Mergellus albellus), the squacco heron (Ardeola ralloides)
Allegory of an element air: Apollo and Eos by Luka RudmanPosavje Museum Brežice
The common magpie (Pica pica) with its characteristic long tail.
Birds as spiritual messengers carry a symbolic message and represent solar, Ouranic values.
Birds, both local and exotic, are symbols of love, victory and peace, restfulness and serenity, and they, alongside the rainbow that spreads across the sky after a storm, represent the beauty that signifies the calmness and happiness of peacetime.
Alenka Černelič Krošelj, Director of the Posavje Museum Brežice
Oži Lorber, curator at art history department
Andreja Matijevc, cultural programme coordinator
Virtual tour through the Knight's Hall: https://www.pmb.si/virtualni-sprehod
