This exhibition seeks to portray five works of art that involve a mythological story. Mythology has been a favorite subject of art for thousands of years, and it still remains to be an interest today. These five works each represent a different story within both Greek and Roman mythology. They are all painted well after the Renaissance Period in Europe, showing the prevalence even into the 21st Century. Mythology, for ancient Greek and Roman citizens, was a way of explaining the natural world and how it came to be. This set of stories becomes a societal religion. Buildings are built in honor of certain gods and sculptures of these gods and goddesses are made with remarkable skill. It is difficult to understand the meaning of an artwork about mythology without knowing the story that it is portraying. This is the case for any genre of art. By learning or knowing the background and the source that the art is portraying, one can understand the piece better. The message becomes clearer to the viewer, and the viewer feels more connected to the piece of art. The examples that are shown in this exhibition have no other connections aside from their mythological subject matter. However, this thematic element ties them together as closely related pieces of art. Each story has many elements to it, with a lot of action incorporated into it. The imagery depicted in each work of art within this exhibition represents an aspect of the well-known story being told. These stories are traditions that have been recorded since the ancient Greek civilization. Experts in the realm of mythology would easily be able to identify the story being told in each work of art. 1. Dante Grabriel Rossetti, Proserpine Proserpina is believed to be the wife of Pluto, god of the underworld. She is the daughter of Ceres (Demeter), goddess of agriculture. Pluto, after seeing Proserpina, kidnaps her and brings her down to Hades to be with him. When Ceres begs for her daughter back, Pluto makes a deal with the goddess. Since Proserpina unknowingly eats the forbidden fruit of Hades, she has to stay with him in Hades for four months of the year. She is seen here with the fruit in her hand. Since Ceres is goddess of agriculture, she ultimately affects the weather and seasons. This is why the world experiences winter during those four months when her daughter is in Hades. When Proserpina returns to her mother, crops blossom, and the earth experiences spring and summer. In the fall, Ceres changes the leaves to her favorite colors, brown and orange, as a gift to Proserpina before she has to return to the underworld. 2. Emile-Antoine Bourdelle, Hercules Killing the Birds of Lake Stymphalis Hercules is a mythological hero and son of Zeus. He is said to have killed his six sons out of rage after being driven to madness by Hera. To atone for his actions, Hercules must perform twelve labors. One of the labors includes killing the birds on Lake Stymphalus in Arcadia that eat human flesh and crops. This is his sixth task, and he is seen here right at the moment of action as the hero draws his arrow towards the unseen birds. The tension in the figure’s muscles and the balance in the construction add a certain dynamic quality to this sculpture. In the end of this story, Hercules successfully kills each flesh eating bird and thus fulfills his sixth task. He goes on to complete the rest of the twelve tasks with little difficulty. This mythological character embodies heroism, bravery, and strength and has been used as the subject for many genres within the art world. 3. George Frederic Watts, The Minotaur This half-man, half-bull creature is often associated with King Minos and the Minoan Civilization because he is ultimately responsible for the creation of this monster. While Minos is fighting for the throne, Poseidon sends him a white bull as a sign of the god’s favor. Minos is told to sacrifice the bull to show honor to Poseidon. Instead, he sacrifices one of his own bulls and keeps the white bull because of its beauty. As punishment for Minos’ disobedience, Aphrodite makes Minos’ wife fall in love with the white bull and thus becomes pregnant with the Minotaur. The creature eats humans to stay alive but has to be placed in the center of a labyrinth to prevent it from killing the Minoans. Each year, seven youths and seven virgins are shipped from mainland Athens to Crete to serve as human sacrifices and be eaten by the Minotaur. In this painting, the Minotaur waits in expectation for the ship carrying the human sacrifices. On the wall that the creature leans on, there is a small bird that it has crushed with its hoof. The bird is a recognized symbol of youthful innocence and purity. The artist conveys a moral message of man’s beast-like manner through the portrayal of the Minotaur. 4. Alphonse Legros, Cupid and Psyche Psyche is a very beautiful princess who people begin to treat as a goddess because of her beauty. Venus grows very jealous of this and sends her son Cupid down to hit Psyche with one of his arrows to make her fall in love with an ugly man. Right when he is about to shoot Psyche, she wakes up and startles him. He ends up scratching his own leg with the arrow and thus falls in love with her. This painting shows the moment right before Psyche wakes up, just as Cupid is drawing out his arrow. The position of the princess reflects previous paintings of reclining figures by Giorgione and Titian. This shows a strong influence that classical artwork and stories serve as inspiration for other works of art. 5. Augustus Saint-Gaudens, Diana Diana, also known as Artemis in Greek, is the virgin goddess of the hunt, the moon, childbirth, and women. She has the ability to talk to animals and control them, thus she is often associated with wild animals and the wilderness. This sculpture is an ideal interpretation of the goddess. The simple, elegant lines of the body form a solid silhouette that is similar to a weathervane. She was born on the island of Delos along with her twin brother Apollo. They are the children of Jupiter (Zeus) and Leto. She is one of three goddesses who never married, the other two being Minerva and Vesta. Diana reflects the sovereignty, superiority, and impassibility of the heavenly realm while at the same time remains active on earth by ensuring the succession of kings and protecting mankind during childbirth.
