Mythological paintings. Main characters and symbols

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1 Ministry of Transport of Russia Maritime State University named after Admiral G.I. Nevelskoy E.E. Drobysheva Mythological subjects in art Textbook Recommended by the methodological council of the Maritime State University as a textbook for all specialties Vladivostok 2003

2 UDC (075.8) Drobysheva E. E. Mythological subjects in art: Textbook. allowance. Vladivostok: Mor. state university, s. The textbook examines myth as the basis of artistic culture. The most famous subjects of ancient (section 1) and biblical (section 2) mythology, reflected in works of art of various genres, are presented. In the process of preparing the material, catalogs of the largest museums in the world were used. Addressed to cadets and students of all specialties studying cultural studies, cultural history, and art history. Bibliography 16 titles Reviewers: Sakutin V. A., Ph.D. Philosopher sciences, prof. PIPKRO; Ushchipovsky S. N., Ph.D. Philol. Sciences, Associate Professor of the department. history of journalism FENU ISBN Drobysheva E. E. Maritime State University named after. adm. G. I. Nevelskoy, 2003 Computer layout E. E. Drobysheva License ID from, 2 uch. -ed. l. Format / 16 Circulation 200 copies. Order Printed in the printing house of Moscow State University. adm. G. I. Nevelskoy Vladivostok, 59, st. Verkhneportovaya, 50a 2

3 Introduction Training of certified specialists in higher education involves the formation of a broad outlook and versatile intellectual base of future specialists. The humanitarian aspect of such training occupies an important place in the educational process. In light of the task of humanitarizing higher education, serious attention is paid to such a discipline as cultural studies. In the process of studying this discipline, students are given the opportunity to gain an understanding of the main trends and stages of development of the spiritual life of mankind, types of mentalities, and various cultural phenomena. Students form basic ethical ideas, develop tolerance and aesthetic taste. The theoretical basis for the problem stated in this manual is presented during lectures and seminars on the topic “Myth as a universal cultural form.” The textbook “Mythological Subjects in Art” contains material on the factual block of the cultural studies course. The content of the most famous mythological plots that formed the basis of famous works of art (in painting, music, theater, cinema) or became the basis of stable, idiomatic expressions is summarized. For museum visitors, readers of literary works, spectators of theatrical performances and films with historical themes, the perception of what they see, hear and read is complicated by the fact that modern people know little about the heroes of archaic legends. The meaning of plots dating back to Egyptian, ancient, ancient Indian and Slavic mythology, as well as the Bible, often turns out to be a secret behind seven seals. But it was precisely ancient and biblical themes that for centuries were the focus of attention in fine and theatrical art, literary and musical works; it was precisely this theme that shaped the appearance of European culture. Even such completely new areas of mass culture as television with numerous talk shows and intellectual games, KVN, virtual computer games require basic knowledge in this area from their participants and players. Psychological science uses stable phrases that have mythological roots, for example, “Electra complex”, “Oedipus complex”. They are used to describe the psychological picture of a person, when the motives of the myth of Electra or Oedipus are recognized in the character of a particular person (this mainly applies to children and adolescents). To understand the essence of such phenomena, we provide below a brief summary of the myths about these ancient heroes. In everyday life, we often use stable expressions, which also have explanations in 3

4 mythological past, such as “Ariadne’s thread”, “Procrustean bed”, “Sisyphus’s work”, “the glory of Herostratus”, “Trojan horse”, “apple of discord”. We also provide a brief summary of the mythological plots with which these figurative expressions are associated below. In the process of preparing this manual, the author drew on a wide range of educational, reference, art and popular literature. As examples, references are given to more than 220 works of art of various genres (painting, sculpture, theater and cinema), based on ancient mythological and biblical subjects. Links to works of art contain the following information: title; author; years of his life or approximate era, if there is no more precise information; the location of this work; material. Catalogs of collections of such large repositories of works of art as the Hermitage (St. Petersburg, Russia), the State Tretyakov Gallery (Moscow, Russia), the Russian Museum (St. Petersburg, Russia), the Pushkin Museum im. A. S. Pushkin (Moscow, Russia), Vatican Museums (Rome, Italy), Borghese Gallery (Rome, Italy), National Gallery (Rome, Italy), Uffizi Gallery (Florence, Italy), Prado (Madrid, Spain), Louvre (Paris, France), Glasgow Art Gallery (UK), Gala and Salvador Dali Foundation (Figueres, Spain), Bern Art Museum (Switzerland), Museum of Modern Art (New York, USA), Museum of Contemporary Art (Nagaoka, Japan) ), National Gallery of Art (Washington, USA), Marquette University Gallery (Milwaukee, USA). It should be noted that other myths were the basis for works of art in a variety of fields and genres, as noted in the notes to each article. The first chapter of the manual is devoted to the ancient heritage, the second to the biblical one. The material is arranged in alphabetical order. Titles of articles and links to existing articles are in italics in the text, and titles of works are in bold. The textbook is the fourth link in the complex of methodological support for teaching a course in cultural studies, developed by the author (previous editions “A Brief Dictionary of Terms and Concepts”, “History of World Culture. Part One. European Culture”, “Issues of Cultural Theory”). 4

5 Section 1. The life of ancient myth in the post-antique era of the Amazon, a Scythian tribe that traded in robbery. As men died, women themselves took their places. Subsequently, the tribe began to destroy the boys and prepare the girls for military service. They burned or cut off the right breast to make it easier to shoot with a bow, and left the left for feeding children. Hence "Amazons" literally "deprived of breasts." In a figurative sense, Amazons began to be called brave, independent women; the term is often used in sports and cinema. Achilles (Achilles) hero of the Trojan War, distinguished by exceptional valor. Achilles' father is Peleus, king of Thessaly, and his mother is the sea nymph Thetis. Wanting to give her son immortality, Thetis bathed him in the Styx, the sacred river of the underworld. She immersed the baby in the water, holding him by the heel, and the heel, not washed by water, remained the only vulnerable spot on Achilles’ body. The future hero was given to be raised by the wise centaur Chiron, who gave the young man an excellent upbringing and fighting skills. Knowing that Achilles would die in the war with the Achaeans, Thetis wanted to outwit fate and hid her son on the island of Skyros, where he lived among the daughters of Lycomedes, dressed in women's clothing. However, the Greeks were predicted that without Achilles they could not win the war with the Trojans, and by order of Odysseus, Achilles was found on the island. The cunning Odysseus forced the young man to expose himself. Disguising himself as a merchant, Odysseus entered Skyros, laid out goods in front of the girls, and then ordered the servants to suddenly hit their shields with their swords. The girls ran away in fear, and only Achilles grabbed his weapon. Achilles went with Odysseus to Troy, the siege of which lasted ten years. One day (these events are described in Homer’s Iliad) Agamemnon took one of the Trojan captives from Achilles, and as a result they quarreled. Achilles refused to fight, but Patroclus, his friend, urged the hero to forget the insult, because without him the Greeks would be defeated. Then Achilles gave his friend his armor, horse and squad. The Trojans, seeing Achilles, fled. Here Apollo intervened and helped Hector, the Trojan leader, defeat Patroclus. Having learned about the death of his friend, Achilles forgave the offense, rushed into battle and defeated Hector. Already the post-Homeric myth tells about the death of the hero like this: after the victory over the Trojans, Achilles decided to marry the youngest daughter of the Trojan king Polyxena, but her brother Paris struck 5

6 the groom's heel is a weak spot on his body. The Greeks sacrificed Polyxena. “Achilles' heel” is an expression denoting a vulnerable, weak point. Adonis is a beautiful young man, the lover of Venus (according to Roman myth, since in the Greek version the name of Venus is Aphrodite). Knowing that jealous Mars was preparing the death of Adonis, Venus begged him not to go hunting. But the young man, who did not listen to the goddess in love, was torn to pieces by a boar in the forest. Bitterly mourning Adonis, Venus sprinkled the spilled blood with nectar and turned it into an anemone flower. Adonis' first early flowers are also called snowdrops. Venus and Adonis. Peter Paul Rubens (). Hermitage Museum. Canvas, oil. Death of Adonis. Giuseppe Mazzuola (). Hermitage Museum. Marble. Venus and Adonis. Titian Vecellio (1485/). National Gallery. Canvas, oil. Venus and Adonis. Paolo Veronese (). Prado Museum. Canvas, oil. Venus and Adonis. P. I. Sokolov (). Russian Museum. Oil on canvas Cupid and Psyche. The love of Cupid and Psyche is mentioned in “Metamorphoses, or the Golden Ass” by the ancient Roman writer Apuleius. The young princess Psyche, famous for her beauty, was so loved and popular that she began to be revered on a par with Venus herself. The goddess instructed her son Cupid to arouse in the soul of her rival love for the most insignificant person on earth. Cupid, being himself captivated by the beauty of Psyche, placed the princess in his palace and appeared to her under cover of darkness. One day a girl lit a lamp to look at her lover. Recognizing the son of Venus in the sleeping young man, out of fear she dripped oil from the lamp onto him. Cupid disappeared, and the girl went in search of him. Venus's hatred pursued her everywhere. One day, at the instigation of the evil goddess, Psyche ended up with the mistress of the underworld, Proserpina. The girl was supposed to receive from her a magic box where beauty was kept, which was forbidden to look into. Out of curiosity, Psyche broke the ban, inhaled toxic fumes and fell asleep. Cupid, having found his beloved, woke her up with a kiss and, ascending with her to Olympus, turned to Jupiter with a request for help, who 6

7 had mercy on the lovers. So Psyche received immortality and became the wife of Cupid. Psyche became a symbol of the human soul, she was often depicted as a girl with butterfly wings, and her name formed the basis for the name of the science of psychology. History of Psyche. A series of paintings. Maurice Denis (). Hermitage Museum. Canvas, oil. Cupid and Psyche. Cupid's Kiss. Antonio Canova (). Hermitage Museum. Marble. Apollo (Greek; Roman Phoebus). Apollo is the son of Zeus and Latona, twin brother of Artemis (goddess of the hunt), god of light, sun, patron of the arts. “Through me, songs and strings are harmonized,” he says about himself in Ovid’s poem “Metamorphoses.” According to legend, Apollo defeated the monstrous serpent of the underworld Python, and a temple was built in the place where this happened, in Delphi. There was the oracle of Apollo, where the priestess Pythia prophesied the will of God. Stupefied by the poisonous fumes rising from the cleft of the rock, the Pythia muttered incoherently, and the priests interpreted her words. In Ovid's poem there is an episode about how Apollo laughed at Cupid, saying that only dragon slayers could carry a bow and arrow. Then the offended Cupid fired one of his arrows at the mocker, instilling in him love for the nymph Daphne, and with another arrow he struck the nymph herself, causing her hatred of the proud man. Fleeing from Apollo, who was in love with her, the nymph called on her father, the river god Peneus, and he turned her into a laurel tree. Inconsolable Apollo made the laurel evergreen, put a wreath of its branches on his head and decorated the cithara with them. This is where the custom of crowning the winners of musical and gymnastic competitions with laurel wreaths comes from. Apollo was usually depicted as a beautiful naked youth, sometimes in a long robe with a cithara (a stringed Greek instrument) in his hands. Apollo from Piombino. Ancient Greek sculpture. Around 475 BC e. Louvre. Bronze. Apollo Belvedere. Leohar. Tue floor. IV century BC e. Roman copy from a Greek original. Vatican Museums. Marble. Apollo and Marsyas. Pietro Perugino (). Louvre. Wood, oil. 7

8 Apollo and Daphne. Giovanni Lorenzo Bernini (). Borghese Gallery. Marble. Apollo and Daphne. Francois de Troyes (). Hermitage Museum. Canvas, oil. There are a large number of statues, presumably copied from a statue of the 4th century. BC e. the work of master Leohar. At the end of the 15th century, a Roman copy of this statue was found in Italy and placed in the Belvedere Palace in the Vatican (hence “Belvedere”). Now reproductions of this famous work are kept in many museums around the world. Athena (Greek; Roman Minerva) one of the main deities of the ancient Greeks, goddess of wisdom, warrior goddess, patroness of sciences and crafts. The wisdom of the goddess is explained by her miraculous birth. According to myth, Zeus, having married the goddess of reason Metis, learned from the Pythia that his children would surpass their father in power. To deceive fate, he swallowed the pregnant Metis, and, feeling a headache, asked the blacksmith Hephaestus to cut his head. Athena appeared before the gods in shining armor, with a shield and sword. The Homeric hymn “To Athena” says: From the sacred head he gave birth to her in full armor, Gold sparkling brightly. At the sight of her, amazement gripped all the immortals; before the aegis-sovereign Zeus, she quickly jumped to the ground from his eternal head, shaking her sharp spear. Sometimes the name Pallas is added to the name Athena, since her image (palladium) fell from the sky. Sometimes Athena is depicted with an owl or snake as symbols of wisdom. In the ancient world, there was an idea of ​​seven wonders of the world, one of which was the statue of the Virgin Athena, made by the great sculptor Phidias for the main Athenian temple of the Parthenon. The statue was made of ivory, wood and gold and has not survived to this day, but various museums around the world contain Roman works dating back to Phidias’ original. One of these sculptures is in the Hermitage. Pallas and the centaur. Sandro Botticelli (Alessandro Filipepi) (1444/5 1510). Uffizi Gallery. Tree. Minerva. Veronese (Paolo Caliari) (). Pushkin Museum im. A. S. Pushkin. Canvas, oil. 8

9 Minerva and the artistic genius. Mikhail Kozakovsky (). Russian Museum. Bronze. Aphrodite (Greek; Roman Venus) goddess of love and beauty, mother of Eros. Gods and people are subject to the love power of Aphrodite, but only the virgin goddesses are not subject to it: Athena (Roman Minerva), Artemis (Roman Diana) and Hestia (Roman Vesta). Aphrodite patronizes lovers and persecutes those who do not obey her. It was she who instilled an unnatural attraction to the Bull Minos in Pasiphae, who spoke unkindly about her, and from this sinful relationship the Minotaur was born. She turned the narcissistic Narcissus into a flower. In many myths, Aphrodite was sung as the goddess of fertility; a rose, an apple, a dolphin and a dove were dedicated to her. In addition, she was considered the patroness of hetaeras. The most famous myths about Aphrodite are associated with the story of her birth; there are several versions according to which she is the daughter of Zeus and the oceanid Dione, or Uranus and Gaia. The famous paintings depicting a maiden emerging from the foam are associated precisely with the second option. Uranus and Gaia had twelve children. Gaia, tired of her husband’s lust and endless childbirth, according to myth, asked her son Kronos (patron of time) to castrate his father. From the blood spilled into the sea, a beautiful maiden was born from pink foam. On the island of Cyprus there is a bay with a large stone in the middle, where the famous event took place. Thousands of people take a ritual bath in this place, asking the goddess of love for unfading youth and personal happiness. The Greek island of Kythera also claims to be the birthplace of Aphrodite. From the names of the islands it is sometimes called Cyprida or Kytharea. Aphrodite of Knidos. Praxiteles (IV century BC). Roman copy from a Greek original. Vatican Museums. Marble. Aphrodite (Venus Tauride). Roman copy from a Greek original of the 3rd century. BC e. Hermitage Museum. Marble. Venus de Milo. Skopas. K. II century. BC e. Louvre. Marble Birth of Venus. Sandro Botticelli (Alessandro Filipepi) (1444/5 1510). Uffizi Gallery. Canvas, oil. Venus and Cupid. Lucas Cranach the Elder (). Hermitage Museum. Canvas, oil. Venus and Cupid with honeycomb. Lucas Cranach the Elder (). Borghese Gallery. Wood, oil. Venus blindfolding Cupid. Titian Vecellio (1485/). Borghese Gallery. Canvas, oil. 9

10 Venus of Urbino. Venus with Cupid. Titian Vecellio (). Uffizi Gallery. Canvas, oil. Venus toilet. Francois Boucher (). Hermitage Museum. Canvas, oil. Cupid unties Venus's belt. Joshua Reynolds (). Hermitage Museum. Canvas, oil. Hysterical Venus de Milo. Salvador Dali (). Private collection. Glass mass. Dali lifting the surface of the sea to show Gala the birth of Venus. Salvador Dali (). Gala and Salvador Dali Foundation. Figueres. Canvas, oil. Venus de Milo with boxes. Salvador Dali (). Private collection. Gypsum. Venus and Cupids. Salvador Dali (). Private collection. Wood, oil. The appearance of the face of Aphrodite of Knidos in a landscape. Salvador Dali (Dali's gift to the Spanish state. Oil on canvas. Hercules (Greek; Roman. Hercules) one of the most popular heroes of the ancient epic, the name "Hercules" means "glorious hero." He was distinguished by his extraordinary strength, courage and nobility. Hercules personifies the appearance of a folk hero, conquering the formidable forces of nature, defeating monsters and treacherous kings. Hercules belongs to the category of "heroes", a host of characters of ancient myths, leading their genealogies from gods and earthly women. Hercules' father was Zeus, his mother was the mortal woman Alcmene, the wife of the Argive king Amphitryon. The birth of the hero was preceded by an event that determined his future fate: Zeus, who knew about the approaching birth of Alcmene, announced to the gods on Olympus that the boy born first on that day would rule over the Peloponnese. The jealous Hera (the legal wife of Zeus) resorted to cunning slowed down the birth of Alcmene, and at the specified time the first child was born from the wife of Amphitryon's brother, the weak and frail Eurystheus.By right of seniority, he became the ruler of the Peloponnese, and Hercules was subordinate to him. From the very beginning, the boy's life was unusual. According to legend, Hera sent two huge snakes to the boy's cradle. Awakened by their hissing, the baby fearlessly entered the battle and strangled the monsters. When Hercules grew up, Amphitryon sent the young man to graze his flocks in the Cithaeron Mountains. Here the hero killed a lion and put on 10

11 his skin, and from an ash tree he made himself a huge club, which only he could lift. In the allegory of the philosopher of the 5th century. BC e. Prodicus tells how two women, Vice (Venus) and Virtue (Minerva), came to the hero’s pasture; one promised pleasure, the other difficulty, which should lead to glory on his life’s path. The young man chose Virtue. Hercules performed the famous twelve labors at the behest of the Pythia Apollo, to whom he turned for advice after, in a fit of madness, he threw his own children into the fire, mistaking them for sacrificial animals. The vengeful Hera again sent Hercules into a mad fit. Having come to his senses, he went to Delphi, where the Pythia ordered him to go to Argos to King Eurystheus to perform twelve hard works in order to atone for his terrible sin. “The Labors of Hercules” have become textbooks; many works of art are dedicated to each of them. Among these feats: fighting the Nemean lion; victory over the Lernaean hydra; capture of the Kerynean fallow deer; capture of the Erymanthian boar; cleansing the barnyard of King Augeas of Eris; expulsion of Stymphalian man-eating birds; capture of the Cretan bull; the capture of the fierce mares of the Thracian king Diomedes; mining the belt of Hippolyta, Queen of the Amazons; the theft of the cows of the three-headed giant Geryon (in memory of the difficult journey, Hercules erected pillars called the Pillars of Hercules on both sides of the Strait of Gibraltar between Europe and Africa); the theft of the golden apples of the Hesperides (the Hesperides, daughter of Hesperus, brother of the titan Atlas, in whose garden the apples of eternal youth grew); victory over Cerberus (Kerberus), the three-headed dog, guardian of the underworld. As you know, only gods had immortality, while heroes, the children of mortal women, were deprived of this privilege. However, with Hercules it turned out differently. His wife Dejanira, out of jealousy, fearing that her husband would be carried away by young Iola, the daughter of King Eurytus, whom he defeated, sent him and his servant Lichas a cloak soaked in the blood of a centaur. Once upon a time, the centaur Nessus fell in love with Dejanida, but was struck down by the poisoned arrow of Hercules. Before his death, he deceived the woman by advising her to save his blood, which allegedly had the ability to return lost love. Now the poison with which Hercules struck the centaur returned to him with a cloak from his loving wife. Feeling unbearable pain, the poisoned hero threw himself into the fire, but Zeus saved his son, raising him to Olympus and granting him immortality. Hera, forgetting hatred, gave the hero her daughter Hebe as his wife. Hercules strangling snakes. Roman copy from a Greek original of the 2nd century. BC e. Hermitage Museum. Marble. eleven

12 Infant Hercules strangling the snakes sent by Hera. Joshua Reynolds (). Hermitage Museum. Canvas, oil. The painting on this subject was painted by Reynolds at the request of Catherine II. The artist explained the choice of theme in one of his letters as follows: “I chose the supernatural power of Hercules as a theme in infancy, because this plot allows for an analogy (at least distantly) with the childish, but so well-known power of the Russian empire.” Hercules at the crossroads between Virtue and Vice. Pompeo Girolamo Batoni (). Hermitage Museum. Canvas, oil. Hercules fighting a lion. Lysippos. IV century BC e. Roman copy from a Greek original. Hermitage Museum. Marble. Hercules with three apples. Roman copy of the original by the school of Scopas, a Greek sculptor of the 4th century. BC e. Marble. Hercules and Lichas. Unknown sculptor from the original by Antonio Canova (). Hermitage Museum. Bronze. Hercules among the gods of Olympus. Simon Vouet (). Hermitage Museum. Canvas, oil. Hercules and the Cretan bull. Ancient Greek statue. OK. IV century BC e. Louvre. Marble. Hercules raises the surface of the sea and asks Venus to wait and wake up Cupid. Salvador Dali (). Modern Art Museum. Nagaoka (Japan). Canvas, oil. Hercules and Gravida. Salvador Dali (). Gala and Salvador Dali Foundation. Sanguine, ballpoint pen. Hermaphrodite is the son of Aphrodite from an extramarital affair with Hermes. It so happened that the nymph Salmacis fell in love with the young man, but he was afraid of her passion. Then the nymph asked the gods to merge her with her lover forever. Hermaphroditism is a biological term meaning the combination of female and male organs in one body. 12 Herostratus Glory The myth tells about the crime of Herostratus, a resident of ancient Greece, who wanted to become famous, but had neither the capabilities nor the talents. He figured out how to go down in history without creating something, but by destroying and burning the temple of Artemis (goddess of the hunt), one of the seven wonders of the world. “The glory of Herostratus” is an expression that means shameful glory, the glory of a vandal, but not the creator.

13 Graces (Roman; Greek Charites). Daughters of Zeus and the oceanids Eurynome, deities of female beauty and eternal youth, the embodiment of harmony and joy of life. One of the graces is Euphrosyne (“joy”), another is Thalia (“blooming”), the third is Aglaia (“brilliance”). They were usually depicted naked, sometimes with roses and myrtle. Three Graces. Antonio Canova (). Hermitage Museum. Marble. Allegory of spring. Sandro Botticelli (Alessandro Filipepi) (1444/5 1510). Uffizi Gallery. Tree. Sword of Damocles. The myth tells about the Syracuse tyrant Dionysius I the Elder, who lived in the 5th-4th century, who gave his throne for one day to the favorite Damocles, who believed that the life of a tyrant was cloudless, that kings are the happiest of mortals. In the midst of the feast, Damocles raised his head, saw a sword hanging above his head on a horsehair, and realized the illusory nature of such well-being. Sword of Damocles is an expression meaning a threat constantly hanging over someone. This is the daughter of the king of Argos, Acrisia. The oracle predicted the king's death at the hands of his grandson, who then imprisoned the girl and her maid in an inaccessible tower. However, Zeus heard about Danae's beauty and came to her in the form of golden rain. From their union, a son, Perseus, was born, who accomplished many feats. Danae. Rembrandt Harmens van Rijn (). Hermitage Museum. Canvas, oil. Danae. Correggio (Antonio Allegri) (ok). Borghese Gallery. Canvas, oil. Daedalus and Icarus, the legendary Athenian sculptor and his son. Daedalus was also considered the inventor of joiner's and carpenter's tools, as well as a remarkable architect. Having killed the talented student Tal out of envy, Daedalus was forced to flee and take refuge in Crete with King Minos. By order of the ruler, Daedalus built a labyrinth palace (which is confirmed by archaeological excavations in Crete). In the labyrinth lived the Minotaur, a monster with the body of a man and the head of a bull. The Athenians annually sent seven boys and seven girls as sacrifices to him. The son of the Athenian king Theseus decided to kill the Minotaur and himself went with those doomed to death. Minos' daughter Ariadne fell in love with the young man and, on the advice of Daedalus, gave him a skein of thread, which he used to get out, defeating the monster. Minos, furious with his adviser, imprisoned Daedalus and his son in a tower on a rock. 13

14 The inventive Daedalus found a way to free himself from captivity: having fastened bird feathers with wax, he made wings for himself and his son, and both left the prison. However, the young man did not listen to his father’s warning and rose higher than expected, the wax melted in the sun, and Icarus fell into the sea, later named Icarian. You'll fly through the middle of space! Be obedient to me, Icarus: if you direct your path lower, the water will weigh down your wings; if the fire burns them higher. (Ovid. Metamorphoses, VIII;) Daedalus and Icarus. Charles Lebrun (). Hermitage Museum. Canvas, oil. Diana (Roman; Greek Artemis) daughter of Jupiter and Latona, goddess of the hunt, mistress of animals, as well as the goddess of the Moon, sometimes she was identified with Selene (Moon). In paintings he most often appears with a bow and arrow, accompanied by dogs or deer. The moon goddess was depicted with a crescent moon on her head and torches in her hands, wearing long clothes. The Temple of Artemis in Ephesus was dedicated to her, one of the seven wonders of the world. It was he who was burned by Herostratus. Artemis the hunter. Roman copy from a Greek original. Around 330 BC e. Louvre. Marble. Diana the huntress. Benvenuto Cellini (). Louvre. Marble. Diana. Paolo Veronese (). Hermitage Museum. Canvas, oil. Diana's rest. Francois Boucher (). Louvre. Not uk. Diana. Jean Antoine Houdon (). Louvre. Bronze. Dionysus, Bacchus (Greek; Roman Bacchus) son of Zeus and the Theban queen Semele, god of viticulture and winemaking, who gave people the grapevine. Like Athena, Dionysus was also born from the body of his father. On the insidious advice of the jealous Hera, Semele begged Zeus to appear to her in his divine form. Seeing her lover surrounded by shining lightning, Semele died, having given birth to a premature son. Zeus sewed the baby into his own thigh and carried him there until he grew stronger. He was raised by nymphs. In honor of the god of fun and winemaking, Dionysia (Bacchanalia) holidays were held in Greece. During the Athenian Dionysia, for the first time they became 14

15 theatrical scenes were played out based on stories about the birth of Dionysus, his wanderings and deeds. From these carnival processions and performances, the Greek theater later emerged, and Dionysus began to be revered as the patron of theatrical art. One day, during his wanderings, Dionysus reached the island of Naxos, where Ariadne, the daughter of King Minos, who had been abandoned by Theseus, lived. She became the wife and priestess of Dionysus. On his travels, the inseparable companions of the god were satyrs, the wise teacher old Silenus and the goat-footed Pan, the patron of forests and pastures. Dionysus's retinue also included maenads (bacchantes), who danced frantically in drunken ecstasy. During bacchanalia they glorified Dionysus, beat tympanums, and with thyrses (rods entwined with ivy) carved honey and milk out of the ground (according to the stories of Euripides). Many statues of Dionysus have survived, some depicting him as a bearded, long-haired man in ceremonial robes, others as a slender young man, naked or in a light short dress with a wreath of grapevine, a cup and a bunch of grapes in his hands. Mercury hands Bacchus over to the nymphs to raise. Laurent de la Hire (). Hermitage Museum. Canvas, oil. Bacchus. Peter Paul Rubens (). Hermitage Museum. Canvas, oil. Bacchus and Ariadne. Turchi Alessandro (). Hermitage Museum. Canvas, oil. Bacchante. Annibale Carraci (). Louvre. Canvas, oil. Young Bacchus. Caravaggio (Michelangelo Merisi), (). Louvre. Canvas, oil. Sick Bacchus. Caravaggio (Michelangelo Merisi) (). Borghese Gallery. Canvas, oil. Drunkards. Triumph of Bacchus. Diego Velazquez de Silva (). Prado Museum. Canvas, oil. Bacchanalia. Titian Vecellio (1485/). Prado Museum. Canvas, oil. Winegrowers. Chariot of Bacchus. Salvador Dali (). Private collection. Watercolor. Europa is the daughter of the Phoenician king Agenor. Seeing a girl whose beauty rivaled the goddesses, Zeus decided to kidnap her. He turned into a huge snow-white bull with sparkling fur and curved horns and, coming to the meadow where Europe was playing with her friends, he lay down at her feet. 15

16 And the maiden princess decided: She sat on the back of a bull, not knowing whom she was trampling. God, little by little, comes down from the earth and from the sandy shore, and steps on the nearby waves with his crafty foot. (Ovid. Metamorphoses, II;) Having crossed the sea, Zeus settled his captive on the island of Crete. There she gave birth to sons: Minos, who became the ancestor of the Cretan kings, Rhadamanthus (one of the three judges of the underworld) and Sarpedon. The Rape of Europa. Guido Reni (). Hermitage Museum. Canvas, oil. Topological abduction of Europe. Salvador Dali (Dali's gift to the Spanish state. Oil on canvas. Zeus (Greek; Roman. Jupiter) the supreme deity of the ancient pantheon, the lord of heavenly forces, the lord of thunder and lightning. Hence another version of the name Thunderer. The myth about the origin of the Olympian is associated with the birth of Zeus generation of gods. The father of Zeus was Kronos, the youngest of the Titans, the second generation of Greek gods (the first giants), the son of Uranus (Heaven) and Gaia (Earth), the progenitors of all Greek gods. Kronos was married to Rhea, who bore him sons, his father devoured them , since it was predicted to him that his son would rebel against him. Rhea gave birth to Zeus, the last of his sons, secretly on the island of Crete, slipping a stone in Kronos's diapers instead of a baby. Grown-up Zeus forced his father to return the brothers and sisters of Poseidon, Hades, Hera, who he had swallowed Together they defeated Kronos and the Titans and cast them into the dark abyss of Tartarus. The winners reigned on Olympus and divided power among themselves: Poseidon became the ruler of the sea elements, Hades received the underworld, and the power of Zeus extended to the sky, people and gods. Zeus's wife Hera, together with him, dominated the world; they gave birth to Hebe, the goddess of youth, Ares, the god of war, and Hephaestus, the god of blacksmithing. Numerous myths tell about the love of the supreme ruler for other goddesses, nymphs and earthly women, to whom he appeared in the form of birds, animals, golden rain, and from whom the children of Zeus, gods and heroes were born. There is a well-known myth about the love affair of the supreme god with Queen Io. One day Jupiter descended from heaven to the beautiful queen, but Juno (Jupiter’s wife, Greek Hera) out of jealousy decided to follow her husband. 16

17 Jupiter turned the girl into a snow-white cow, but this did not save her; Juno demanded the animal as a gift, and then instructed the giant Argus to guard her. Mercury, on behalf of Jupiter, put the guard to sleep by playing the flute, but Juno did not leave her rival; she sent a cruel gadfly to her. In pain, the cow fled to Egypt, and there Jupiter returned her to her female form. On the banks of the Nile, Io gave birth to a son, Epaphus, whom ancient tradition considered the first king of Egypt. Among the many sanctuaries of Zeus, Olympia enjoyed particular fame among the Greeks; the Olympic Games were held here in honor of the gods. In the sacred district of Olympia, the central place was occupied by a temple in which stood a colossal statue of Zeus, made by Phidias in the 5th century. BC e. made of wood, gold and ivory. This statue was named by the Greeks among the other seven wonders of the world. Jupiter. Rome. I century Hermitage Museum. Marble. This is a cult statue, depicting the supreme deity seated on a throne, in his hands a scepter and the winged Victoria, the goddess of victory, at his feet an eagle, a sacred bird. Jupiter and Io. Lambert Sustris (XVI century). Hermitage Museum. Canvas, oil. Jupiter and Callisto. Francois Boucher (). Pushkin Museum im. A. S. Pushkin. Canvas, oil. Laocoon is a Trojan priest who tried to stop the Trojans when they believed the Greeks and accepted the Trojan Horse as a gift from them. Poseidon decided to punish the priest for allowing himself to interfere in the affairs of the gods, and sent monstrous snakes from the sea that strangled Laocoon and his sons. Laocoon. Agesander, Athanodorus, Polydorus. Greek original. OK. 40 BC e. Vatican Museums. Marble. Laocoon. Stefano Maderna (). Hermitage Museum. Terracotta. Laocoon, tormented by flies. Salvador Dali (). Private collection. Cellular plastic, oil. Leda was the wife of the Spartan king Tyndareus, whom Zeus fell in love with and descended to her from Olympus in the guise of a swan. From their union were born Helen the Beautiful and Pollux. Leda with a swan. Roman copy from a Greek original of the 4th century. BC e. Hermitage Museum. Marble. 17

18 Leda. Aristide Maillol (). Pushkin Museum im. A. S. Pushkin. Bronze. Atomic Leda. Salvador Dali (). Gala and Salvador Dali Foundation. Canvas, oil. Medea is the daughter of the ruler of Colchis, who fell in love with Jason (Jason), the leader of the Greek heroes on a campaign for the Golden Fleece (the skin of a magic ram). Aphrodite, who helped the Greeks on their difficult journey on the ship Argo, planted love in the heart of Medea so that she would help the Argonauts. She put to sleep the dragon who was guarding the fleece, the possession of which promised wealth and glory. Fearing her father's wrath, Medea fled with the Argonauts. However, Jason left her, marrying Princess Creus. Medea poisoned her rival with a poisonous dress, and then killed her own children from Jason in order to leave him completely alone. Based on this tragic story, many performances have been staged from the ancient theater to the present day. The Golden Fleece. XVIII century France. Hermitage Museum. Tapestries. Medea and her children. L. Ulitskaya. Tale. The Minotaur is the son of Pasiphae by a bull; bestial inclinations were instilled in the nymph Aphrodite, who wanted to punish her for her disrespectful attitude towards the goddess of love. According to myth, the Minotaur lived in the underground labyrinth of the palace of King Minos on Crete. The ruins of the labyrinth were discovered by archaeologists. The Minotaur died at the hands of Theseus, who was helped by the daughter of the Cretan king Ariadne, who gave the hero a ball of thread. Hence the expression “Ariadne’s thread,” meaning a guiding thread, help from above. Theseus and the Minotaur. Antoine Louis Bari (). Pushkin Museum im. A. S. Pushkin. Bronze. 18 Muses (Greek; Roman stones) according to one version of the myth, the daughter of Zeus and the goddess of memory Mnemosyne, patroness of the arts and sciences. The Muses lived on Mount Parnassus, at the foot of which the Kastalsky Spring flowed, and on Mount Helikon, near the source of Hippocrene. The goddesses endowed those who drank the magical waters of the Castalian Spring with poetic inspiration. According to Hesiod, there were nine muses, each patronizing one or another type of art, and accordingly she was depicted with a certain attribute.

19 Thus, Calliope, the muse of epic poetry, was depicted with a waxed tablet and a writing stick style (her son the singer Orpheus). Clio is the muse of history, so her attributes are a scroll of parchment or a tablet (a board with writing). Melpomene is the muse of tragedy; she holds a tragic mask in her hands. Talia is the muse of comedy with a comic mask. Polyhymnia is the muse of hymns and eloquence, her attribute is the lyre. Terpsichore, the muse of dancing, was sometimes depicted with a lyre, sometimes dancing. Urania patronized astronomy, so she was depicted with the celestial sphere. Euterpe is the muse of lyric poetry with a flute in her hands. The leader of the muses was Apollo Musagetes, the god of light, the sun, and patron of the arts (see Apollo). Parnassus. Andrea Mantegna (). Louvre. Canvas, tempera. Parnassus. Rafael Santi (). Fresco of the Vatican Station. Parnassus. Nicolas Poussin (). Prado Museum. Canvas, oil. Parnassus. Anton Rafael Mengs (). Hermitage Museum. Canvas, oil. Also in the Hermitage are marble Roman copies of sculptural images of muses from Greek originals of the 4th–2nd centuries. BC e. Narcissus is the son of the river god Cephissus and the naiad Liriope. Legend has it that at the boy's birth it was predicted that he would live until he saw himself. Narcissus grew up to be a handsome man, whose love many women sought, but he remained indifferent to them. The nymph Echo, who was in love with him, dried up from grief, and only her voice remained. The angry, rejected women demanded that the goddess of retribution Nemesis punish Narcissus, she made sure that the young man saw his reflection in the source. He drinks water, and meanwhile is captured by the beauty of the face, He loves a dream without flesh and takes a ghost for flesh. He himself was amazed and stood motionless above the water. (Ovid. Metamorphoses; III,). Narcissism is narcissism, human selfishness. Narcissus. Emilio Santarelli (). Hermitage Museum. Marble. Nymphs are lower deities, personifying the forces and phenomena of nature. Sea nymphs Nereids, river naiads, mountain oreads, 19

20 tree dryads, valley chanters. They can heal and heal people, but they can also send madness. Nymphs entered the retinue of the gods and became their lovers or wives. Nymph stung by a scorpion. Lorenzo Bartolini (). Hermitage Museum. Marble. Odysseus (Greek; Roman Ulysses) is the mythical king of the island of Ithaca, one of the heroes of the Trojan War, the main character in Homer’s poem “The Odyssey.” After the Greek victory in the Trojan War, which lasted 10 years, the hero strove to return to his homeland, to his wife Penelope and son Telemachus. However, his wanderings dragged on for another 10 years, he lost all his companions, having experienced amazing and terrible adventures. Having blinded the son of the god of the deep sea Poseidon, the cyclops Polyphemus, Odysseus received a curse from the omnipotent ruler. However, Athena patronized Odysseus, and she saved the hero. Returning to Ithaca after many years of wandering, Odysseus learned that many noble men were wooing his wife Penelope. Penelope, unable to prove that her husband was alive, delayed in every possible way the moment of choosing a new husband, and therefore a ruler. The pretext for the delay was the work on the “coffin cover” for Odysseus’s father Laertes; Penelope weaved during the day and unraveled what she had made at night. When the deception was revealed, the queen announced that she would choose the one from the suitors who could string the heroic bow of Odysseus and shoot an arrow through 12 rings. No one managed to do this until the bow was picked up by an unknown old man, under whose face the returning king was hiding. Together with their son, they killed all the traitorous suitors. The goddess Athena returned Odysseus to his royal appearance, and he began to rule Ithaca again. The adventures of Odysseus formed the basis of a whole cycle of myths about the Trojan War and were reflected in a huge number of literary, musical and artistic works, theatrical plays and films. Odysseus killing the suitors. Roman sculpture. II century Marble. Landscape with Polyphemus. Nicolas Poussin (). Hermitage Museum. Canvas, oil. Odysseus. Film epic directed by Andron Mikhalkov-Konchalovsky. The Olympians are the third generation of Greek gods: the supreme god Zeus (see Zeus), his wife Hera (goddess of the earth), brothers Poseidon (god of the ocean) and Hades (god of the underworld), children Athena (goddess of wisdom ), 20

21 Hebe (goddess of youth) and Hephaestus (god of blacksmithing). The Olympians also include: Hermes (patron of merchants, messenger of the gods), Aphrodite (goddess of love), Artemis (goddess of the hunt), Mercury (god of war) and Dionysus (god of winemaking and fun). Poseidon. Ancient Greek statue. Tue floor. II century BC e. Louvre. Bronze. Hermes. Salvador Dali (). Dali's gift to the Spanish state. Copper, oil. Mercury. Jean Baptiste Pigalle (). Louvre. Marble. Orpheus and Eurydice (Eurydice). Orpheus is the son of the muse Calliope, with his wonderful singing he enchanted gods, people, wild animals, trees and rocks. The myth tells about the love of Orpheus for the nymph Eurydice. When she died, bitten by a snake, Orpheus went to Hades. His songs touched the mistress of the kingdom of shadows, Persephone, and she allowed Eurydice to follow her husband, but on the condition that Orpheus would not see her until they rose to the ground. At the gates of Hades, Orpheus looked back, and Eurydice disappeared forever. Inconsolable Orpheus died, torn to pieces by the Bacchantes for rejecting their love. Orpheus's despair. Antonio Canova (). Hermitage Museum. Marble. Orpheus and Eurydice. Opera by K. V. Gluck (). Pan is the companion of Dionysus (Bacchus). Pan was the son of Hermes, patron of trade and messenger of the gods, and the nymph Driona. Pan was usually depicted with a pipe and accompanied by a retinue of nymphs. The lustful Pan horrified the naiad Syringa with his persecution, and she turned into a reed, from which the hated god made his pipe. In addition to his cheerful incarnation, Pan also embodies horror (hence the “panic fear”) when he is angry. Pan received his name (meaning “everything”) at birth, when he was born hairy and bearded, the gods laughed and called him “whom everyone liked.” Pan was depicted as an ugly creature with a body covered with hair, with goat hooves and horns. Pan. Mikhail Vrubel (). Tretyakov Gallery. Canvas, oil. 21

22 Perseus and Andromeda. The hero of Greek legends, Perseus, was glorified by two feats: the victory over the Gorgon Medusa and the liberation of Andromeda. According to the myth, Perseus's grandfather, King Acrisius, was predicted to die at the hands of his grandson, and Acrisius imprisoned his daughter Danae in a tower to exclude the possibility of her pregnancy. However, Zeus, who learned about the beauty in captivity, came to her in the form of golden rain, and Perseus was born from their union. By order of Acrisius, the born baby and his mother were thrown into the sea, but the waves washed them onto the shore of the island of Serif, where Danae and Perseus found shelter with King Polydectes. The patron liked the woman, but she did not want to marry him and turned to her son for help. Polydectes, in order to get rid of the young man, sent him for the head of Medusa the Gorgon, whose terrible gaze turned all living things into stone. Before the journey, Perseus turned to the gods for help; Athena advised him to take a shield with him so that he could look not at the enemy, but at her reflection. From Hermes, Perseus received a sharp sword and winged sandals, and the nymphs gave him an invisibility cap and a magic bag. Perseus managed to behead the Gorgon and return back on the winged horse Pegasus, born from the blood of the monster. Flying over the sea, Perseus saw a beautiful girl chained to a rock. This was Andromeda, the daughter of King Cepheus of Ethiopia and Queen Cassiopeia. A huge dragon rose above the water, ready to tear the girl to pieces. This was Poseidon's punishment for Cassiopeia, who boasted of her beauty among the Nereids. Perseus fought the dragon and took the girl with him. The insidious Polydectes himself turned into stone, and Perseus gave the head of Medusa to Athena, since then it has been placed on the battle breastplate of the goddess Aegis. The oracle's prediction came true: at a gymnastic competition, Perseus, throwing a discus, mortally wounded his grandfather Acrisius. Perseus with the head of Medusa. Benvenuto Cellini (). Hermitage Museum. Bronze. Perseus and Andromeda. Peter Paul Rubens (). Hermitage Museum. Canvas, oil. Jellyfish. Caravaggio (Michelangelo Merisi) (). Louvre. Wood, oil. Head of Medusa. Salvador Dali (). Private collection. Paper with octopus prints, watercolor. 22 Poseidon (Greek; Roman Neptune) one of the central figures of the Olympic pantheon, brother of Zeus, lord of the seas, patron of navigation and horse breeding. His indispensable attribute is the trident,

23 causing and taming a storm, a symbol of power over the three elements of heaven, water and earth. His wife was the Nereid Amphitrite, mother of Triton, the ruler of the deep sea. Among the many children of Poseidon is the one-eyed Cyclops Polyphemus. Poseidon's chariot is raced across the sea by hippocampus sea horses, and in his retinue are tritons and nereids. Poseidon. Roman copy from a Greek original. V century BC e. Hermitage Museum. Marble. Union of Earth and Water. Peter Paul Rubens (). Hermitage Museum. Canvas, oil. The plot of the picture is very common; it is an allegory of the blessed union of earthly forces, personified by the goddess Cybele, and the forces of water represented by Poseidon. Paris and Helen the Beautiful - Trojan prince and wife of the Spartan king Menelaus, with whom Paris was in love, and who became the involuntary cause of the Trojan War. About the beauty of Helen the Beautiful, Homer writes this way: The elders, as soon as they saw Helen walking towards the tower, quietly spoke winged speeches among themselves: “No, it is impossible to condemn that the sons of Troy and the Achaeans suffer for such a wife and troubles for so long: Truly, to the eternal goddesses She’s like beauty!” The Trojan War was preceded by many events, and there are many myths about them. According to them, the Trojan queen Hecuba dreamed that she gave birth to a torch that burned her city to ashes. Therefore, at the behest of the priests, the father of Hecuba’s newborn son Priam ordered the baby to be thrown out in the mountains. But the shepherds discovered the boy and raised him. One day, three goddesses appeared before the young man, who had by then become a shepherd, asking him, as an outsider, to resolve their dispute: who should get the apple with the inscription “The Most Beautiful.” This “apple of discord” was thrown to the three goddesses Hera, Athena and Aphrodite by the goddess of discord Eris during a wedding feast in revenge for the fact that the sea nymph Thetis and King Peleus did not invite her to their wedding. Each of the goddesses promised Paris her help: Hera promised him power and wealth, Athena the wisdom and glory of the bravest warrior, Aphrodite the love of the most beautiful woman. 23

24 Paris chose Aphrodite, who from then on patronized the Trojan, and Athena and Hera, on the contrary, interfered. Aphrodite revealed to Paris the secret of his birth and returned him to the palace to his father Priam. Afterwards, she helped him kidnap Helen, this daring act became the reason for the start of the Trojan War. Judgment of Paris. Peter Paul Rubens (). Prado Museum. Canvas, oil. Judgment of Paris. France Floris (). Hermitage Museum. Wood, marble. Elena's kidnapping. Philippe Bertrand (). Hermitage Museum. Bronze. Paris. Antonio Canova (). Hermitage Museum. Marble. Paris. Anton Ivanov (). Russian Museum. Marble. Pandora is the creation of the gods, literally her name means “gifted by all,” Hephaestus forged her, Athena revived her, Aphrodite gave her beauty, and Hermes the gift of speech. According to Zeus' plan, this beauty was sent to people with a golden box in which all misfortunes and illnesses were contained. Epimetheus, the brother of Prometheus, knew from his brother that the gods would take revenge on him, and should not have accepted any gifts, but the young beautiful Pandora distracted him, he opened the box and a host of misfortunes spread across the earth. There was hope at the very bottom, but by order of the Thunderer, Pandora did not release it. “Pandora's Box” is an expression meaning the focus of earthly abominations. 24 Pygmalion and Galatea. The great Cypriot artist Pygmalion lived alone, not loving women and not marrying. One day he made a statue of a girl of extraordinary beauty out of shiny, white ivory. All day long he admired his creation and fell in love with her, talked to her and gave gifts, bought dresses and jewelry. During the festivals in honor of Aphrodite, the sculptor made a rich sacrifice to the goddess - a white heifer with gilded horns - with a request to give him a girl like his creation as his wife. When he returned and hugged Galatea, the sculpture warmed up and came to life. This is how Aphrodite thanked her for her love. Galatea with spheres. Salvador Dali (). Gala and Salvador Dali Foundation. Canvas, oil. Pygmalion. Play by J.B. Shaw (). Proserpina (Roman; Greek Persephone) daughter of the fertility goddess Demeter and Zeus.

25 One day Proserpina was picking flowers in a meadow, suddenly the earth opened up, and Hades (the god of the underworld) appeared from there on a horse-drawn chariot. He whisked the girl away to his place, and Demeter, leaving Olympus, went in search of her daughter. In despair, the goddess stopped caring about the harvest, and all living things were in danger of death. Then Zeus intervened and ordered Proserpina to be returned to her mother. Hades could not disobey the supreme god, but before letting her go, he gave her several pomegranate seeds to swallow (pomegranate is a symbol of marriage), after which Proserpina could not forever leave her husband and the kingdom of shadows, of which she became the mistress. Heeding the mother’s pleas, the gods decided that the girl would live with her mother on earth for two thirds of the year, and one third with her husband. The departure and return of Proserpina were associated with ideas about the change of seasons. This myth echoes the Egyptian myth of Osiris and Isis. Hades kidnapping Persephone. Rome. II century Hermitage Museum. Marble. The abduction of Proserpina. Giovanni Lorenzo Bernini (). Borghese Gallery. Marble. Ceres searching for Proserpina. Nicolas Poussin (). Pushkin Museum im. A. S. Pushkin. Brown ink, pen, brush. The abduction of Proserpina. Jean Francois de Troyes (). Hermitage Museum. Canvas, oil. Procrustean bed. The myth of Procrustes tells of a giant robber who robbed passing travelers and mocked them in a sophisticated way by placing them on a bed and measuring them. If a person was taller, Procrustes shortened him according to his standards; if he was shorter, he lengthened him. “Procrustean bed” is an expression meaning “a situation that is not according to its size,” an artificial measure that does not correspond to the essence of the phenomenon. Prometheus the Titan, cast down from heaven by Zeus, created the likeness of human gods from clay, taking feelings from animals, and Pallas Athena breathed a soul into Prometheus’ creation. The first people were weak and helpless, lacking skills and knowledge, they were vulnerable to all troubles, but Prometheus patiently taught and helped his creatures. Zeus and the rest of the Olympians did not interfere with the development of the human race, but decided at a council to determine their rights and responsibilities, as well as the order of worship of the gods. Prometheus wanted to outwit Zeus and protect people from excessive attacks, but this intercession only angered 25

26 Zeus. Prometheus, not afraid of the wrath of the Olympians, decided to give people the main wealth of fire, for which he was severely punished. Hermes chained him with strong chains on the orders of Zeus to a Caucasian rock, nailing him with a diamond wedge driven into his chest. The mighty eagle pecked out Prometheus’s liver every three days, and over the next three days it grew back so that the hero’s torment would last forever. However, salvation came to Prometheus in the form of Hercules, who killed the eagle and broke the chain, but since the curse of Zeus is eternal, and Prometheus must be chained to a rock, a chain link with a piece of stone remained on the titan’s finger. Legend connects this with the custom of people wearing rings with stones. Prometheus. Tue floor. XVIII century Russian Museum. Panel. Prometheus. Fedor Gordeev (). Russian Museum. Lead, electroplating. Satyrs (Greek; Roman fauns) are lower deities, demons of fertility, naturally lovers of wine and dancing. Early images (in the form of people with goat horns, tail and skin) were transformed; in Praxiteles, the forest demon appears as a graceful youth, and only sharp animal ears remind that he is a satyr. Faun and Bacchante. Boris Orlovsky (). Russian Museum. Marble. Bacchic games. Claudion (Claude Michel) (). Hermitage Museum. Bas-relief, wax. Resting satyr. Roman copy of a Greek original by Praxiteles, a 4th century Greek sculptor. BC e. Marble. The Seven Wonders of the World as imagined by the ancient Greeks are the most outstanding creative and technical achievements of that time. The Egyptian pyramids are the only structure of the seven wonders that has survived to this day (they were created in the 3rd-2nd millennium BC). The Hanging Gardens of Babylon are the legendary terraced gardens of the Babylonian queen Semiramis (Semiramis), located on the walls of the ziggurat palace. A masterpiece of irrigation and technical system (7th century BC). Temple of Artemis at Ephesus, built around 550 BC. e., burned by Herostratus of Ephesus in 356 BC. e. (See “Herostratus Glory”). Statue of Zeus at Olympia (circa 430 BC). Alexandria Lighthouse is a lighthouse at the entrance to the harbor of Alexandria, a city in northern Africa built by Alexander the Great as the capital of his empire (circa 280 BC). 26

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Municipal budgetary educational institution of additional education for children "Children's School of Arts" r. Rovnoe, Saratov region All-Russian Competition of student essays "Krugozor" "STORIES OF ANCIENT GREEK MYTHS IN PAINTING" Abstract of an 8th grade student of the piano department of MBOU DOD "Children's School of Arts" r.p. Rovnoe Subject “Conversations about art” by Nadezhda Aleksandrovna Ermakova Leader Irina Ivanovna Maslennikova 2013 Contents I. Introduction……………………………………………………………......3 II. Myths of Ancient Greece and European fine arts……..5 2.1.Greek mythology………………………………………………………5 2.2.Subjects of ancient Greek myths in painting……… ………………8 2.3. The role of ancient Greek myths in human life………………………........................... ...........................................20 III.Conclusion………… ………………………………………………………22 IV. List of used literature……………………………………………………..24 V. Appendix……… ……………………………………………………….25 2 I. INTRODUCTION European culture, in the form in which modern people are familiar with it, owes its origin to Antiquity. We sometimes don’t even suspect how deeply the heroes and images of ancient myths have penetrated into our lives. The achievements of the ancient Greeks are amazing in all areas, and the entire European civilization is based on them. Antiquity accompanies European humanity throughout its entire journey. “We see with the eyes of the Greeks and speak with their figures of speech,” said Jacob Burckhardt, a Swiss historian and cultural philosopher. One of the earliest and most essential elements of ancient culture is myth. Myth (from the Greek muthos - word, legend) is a story about the origin of the world, gods, heroes, various peoples, events of natural and social history that arose in ancient times and were passed down orally from generation to generation. Myth is an extremely important step in knowledge and understanding of the world around us, in human self-knowledge. Myth combines the real and the fictional, the rational and the emotional, the natural and the cultural. Myth is a universal generalization of human life, an integral property of all culture. Greek myths have deeply penetrated the way of thinking of modern people, and we sometimes do not notice how we talk about panic fear, about Olympian calm, compare a fearless man with Hercules, and a determined woman with an Amazon. And the expressions “Trojan horse”, “apple of discord”, “Ariadne’s thread” and many others are understandable to almost everyone. For centuries, myths have accumulated the experience of peoples, their ideas about good and evil, about worthy and unworthy behavior. Passed down from generation to generation, they taught people how to live. 3 In modern life, we very often come across titles and names from ancient Greek mythology. The myths of Ancient Greece have inspired poets, artists, sculptors and composers all over the world for many centuries, which means that without knowledge of the plots it is impossible to understand many works of art. The relevance and significance of this topic is also determined by the fact that ancient Greek mythology and religion played an invaluable role in the formation of European culture and its subsequent development. The purpose of this work is to comprehend the spiritual wealth of ancient Greek mythology, the beauty of mythological plots and images that were embodied in painting. To achieve this goal, it is necessary to consider the following tasks: - give a general description of ancient Greek mythology; - identify the peculiarities of interpretation of mythological subjects and images in painting; - show the role of ancient Greek myths in people's lives. The methodological basis of the work is the works of J. Burchard, N.A. Kuna, E.I. Larionova, G.I. Chugunova. 4 II. Myths of Ancient Greece and European fine arts 2.1. Greek mythology Greek mythology or the mythology of Ancient Greece arose much later than most of the ancient ideas of the Greek people about the world. The Hellenes, like other peoples of antiquity, sought to somehow unravel the formidable and often incomprehensible natural phenomena, to understand those mysterious unknown forces that control human life. The fantasy of the ancient Greeks gave birth to ancient Greek mythology and populated the surrounding world with good and evil fairy-tale creatures: dryads settled in groves and trees, nymphs settled in rivers, oreads settled in the mountains, and oceanids settled in the oceans and seas. The appearance of nature, wild and rebellious, was personified by centaurs and satyrs. When studying Greek mythology, it becomes clear that the world at that time was ruled by immortal gods, good and wise. They lived on the top of the huge Mount Olympus and were presented as beautiful and perfect creatures, similar in appearance to people. They represented Thunderbolt. a single family, the humanization of which was the head of the divine beings Zeus - was a characteristic feature of the Greek religion, which made it possible to make Greek mythology closer to ordinary people. External beauty was considered the highest measure of perfection. So, the powerful forces of nature, previously beyond the control of man, much less his influence, became understandable, more explainable to the imagination of an ordinary person. The Greek people became the creator of uniquely colorful myths and legends about the lives of people, gods and heroes. In ancient Greek mythology, memories of a distant, long-forgotten past and poetic fiction merged together. Greek mythology represents a primitive attempt to comprehend reality, to give purposefulness and harmony to the entire natural picture, and to expand life experience. It is difficult to establish exactly when the first Greek myths and legends appeared, in which humanoid gods were revealed to the world, and whether they are a legacy of the ancient Cretan (3000-1200 BC) or Mycenaean (before 1550 BC) cultures. Legends, traditions and tales were passed down from generation to generation by singers - aeds and were not recorded in writing. Aed (from Greek - singer) - in Ancient Greece, a professional performer of epic songs to the accompaniment of a plucked forming instrument (like a lyre). The aeds could be wandering and in constant service with kings and Greek communities, mainly until the 7th-6th centuries BC - later the aeds were replaced by rhapsodes. The songs of the Aeds were improvisational in nature and had a significant influence on the development of Greek epic. The first recorded works that brought to us unique images and events were Homer’s brilliant poems “Iliad” and “Odyssey”. Their recording dates back to the 6th century BC. According to the historian Herodotus, Homer could have lived three centuries earlier, that is, around the 9th-8th centuries BC. But, being an aed, he used the work of his predecessors, even more ancient singers, the earliest of whom, Orpheus, according to some evidence, lived approximately in the second half of the 2nd millennium BC. The myths about the journey of the Argonauts for the Golden Fleece, among whom Orpheus was, date back to this time. Modern science believes that a great epic cannot appear unexpectedly and by accident. Therefore, Homer's poems are considered as the completion of a long development of the pre-Homeric, long-vanished 6 heroic songs, traces of which, however, can be found in the texts of the Iliad and Odyssey themselves. The unattainable example that the Homeric epic is to this day not only conveyed to descendants extensive knowledge about Hellenic life, but also made it possible to get an idea of ​​the Greeks’ views on the universe. All that exists was formed from Chaos, which was the struggle of the elements. The first to appear were Gaia - earth, Tartarus - hell and Eros - love. From Gaia was born Uranus, and then from Uranus and Gaia - Kronos, the Cyclops and the Titans. Having defeated the Titans, Zeus reigns on Olympus and becomes the ruler of the world and the guarantor of universal order, which finally comes to the world after much upheaval. The ancient Greeks were Europe's greatest mythmakers. It was they who came up with the word “myth” (translated from Greek as “tradition”, “legend”), which we today call amazing stories about gods, people and fantastic creatures. Myths were the basis for all literary monuments of Ancient Greece, including the poems of Homer, so beloved by the people. And in our century, people are worried about the story of Oedipus, the murderer of his father, as old as the world; the adventures of Jason, who crossed the Black Sea in search of the magical Golden Fleece; the fate of Helen, the most beautiful of women, who caused the Trojan War; the journeys of the cunning Odysseus, one of the bravest Greek warriors; the amazing exploits of the mighty Hercules, the only hero who deserved immortality, as well as the stories of a great many other characters. The Romans, heirs to the cultural traditions of the Aegean world, equated many Italic deities with the gods of the Greek pantheon. In general, the creation of myths itself was man’s first step towards creativity and self-knowledge. The ancient Greeks were an active, energetic people who were not afraid to explore the real world, although it was inhabited by creatures hostile to man who instilled fear in him. But the boundless thirst for knowledge of this world overpowered the fear of an unknown danger. The adventures of Odysseus, the campaign of the Argonauts for the Golden Fleece - these are all the same desires captured in poetic form to learn as much as possible about the land on which man lives. In their search for protection from terrible elemental forces, the Greeks, like all ancient peoples, went through fetishism - a belief in the spirituality of dead nature (stones, wood, metal), which was then preserved in the worship of beautiful statues depicting their many gods. The ancient Greek gods were similar to people in everything: kind, generous and merciful, but at the same time often cruel, vengeful and treacherous. Human life inevitably ended in death, but the gods were immortal and knew no limits in fulfilling their desires, but above the gods was fate - Moira - predestination, which none of them could change. Thus, the Greeks, even in the fate of the immortal gods, saw their similarity with the fate of mortal people. The gods and heroes of Greek myth-making were living and full-blooded beings who directly communicated with mere mortals, entered into love alliances with them, and helped their favorites and chosen ones. And the ancient Greeks saw in the gods creatures in whom everything characteristic of man manifested itself in a more grandiose and sublime form. Of course, this helped the Greeks, through the gods, to better understand themselves, comprehend their own intentions and actions, and adequately evaluate their strengths. 2.2. Subjects of ancient Greek myths in painting. The plots and heroes of ancient Greek myths have always been of interest to artists of different eras and movements. Each of them found their own interpretation of mythological images. 8 The painters of the Renaissance did not stand aside, in particular Sandro Botticelli (Italian: Sandro Botticelli, 1445 -1510) - the nickname of the Florentine artist Alessandro di Mariano di Vanni Filipepi (Italian: Alessandro di Mariano di Vanni Filipepi). Born into a wealthy city dweller's family, he received a good education. The nickname Botticelli (“barrel”) passed to Sandro from his broker brother, who was a fat man. He studied painting with the monk Filippo Lippi and adopted from him that passion in depicting touching motifs that distinguishes Lippi’s historical paintings. Then he worked for the famous sculptor Verrocchio. In 1470 he organized his own workshop. One of Botticelli’s famous paintings is “The Birth of Venus” (14841486). In “The Birth of Venus” the artist depicted the image of Aphrodite Urania - the heavenly Venus, the daughter of Uranus, born from the sea without a mother. There are different tales about the origin of Aphrodite. Classical Aphrodite emerged naked from an airy sea shell near Cyprus - hence the nickname "Cypris" - and rode the shell to the shore. Oras in golden diadems crowned her with a golden crown, adorned her with a gold necklace and earrings, and the gods marveled at her charms and were kindled with the desire to take her as his wife. The painting illustrates the myth of the birth of Venus (Greek: Aphrodite). A naked goddess swims to the shore in an open shell, driven by the wind. On the left side of the painting, Zephyr (the west wind), in the arms of his wife Chloris (Roman Flora), blows on a shell, creating a wind filled with flowers. On the shore, the goddess is met by one of the graces. The painting does not depict the birth itself, but the moment that followed, when Venus, driven by the breath of the geniuses of the air, reaches the shore. In addition to Venus, the painting depicts the nymph Ora, who is the embodiment of nature, she is ready to cover Venus with a cloak. Ora is one of the three Mountains, nymphs of the seasons. This Mountain, judging by the flowers covering its clothes, patronizes spring, that time of year when the power of 9 Venus reaches its peak. Perhaps this painting was inspired by one of Homer's hymns, which describes how Zephyr, the god of the west wind, brought Venus to the island of Cyprus, where the Mountains accepted her. In the pose of Venus, one can note the influence of classical Greek sculpture (posture, support of the figure on one leg, hand gesture). Apparently, the proportions of the body are based on the canon of harmony and beauty, developed by Polycletus and Praxiteles. The composition of the picture, thanks to the frontal image of Venus in the center, symmetrically located figures on the right and left, can be defined as static. This composition makes the picture calm and majestic. And the lines of Ora’s veil and Zephyr’s cape, the lines of their bodies, Venus’s hair, falling flowers and the rhythm of the waves, fill the picture with internal movement, the movement of air. The coloring of the painting can be defined as soft, affectionate; even for Ora’s cloak, the artist chose a muted red tone, allowing for emphasis, but not causing irritation. Important among Botticelli's innovations was the use of canvas rather than board for a work of such large size. He added a minimal amount of fat to the pigments, so the canvas remained strong and elastic for a long time, and the paint did not crack. It was also established that Botticelli applied a protective layer of egg yolk to the painting, thanks to which the Birth of Venus was well preserved. The plots of ancient Greek myths also affected the work of the Northern Renaissance artist Pieter Bruegel the Elder (1525-1569), a Flemish painter and graphic artist, the most famous and significant of the artists who bore this surname. Master of landscape and genre scenes. In order not to confuse Pieter Bruegel with his son, also a painter, the Elder was later christened Bruegel of the Muzhitsky. Of all 10 surviving paintings by Bruegel, about a third are in the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna. His painting “Landscape with the Fall of Icarus” (1555-1558, Museum of Fine Arts, Brussels) tells the story of the fearless Icarus, the son of Daedalus. According to ancient legend, the builder Daedalus appeared on the island of Crete after he killed his nephew, whom he envied, in his homeland, Attica. The latter was very talented and managed to create the tools that humanity needed: a saw, a compass, a pottery wheel. On Crete, Daedalus built a huge palace with underground labyrinths for King Minos. In the labyrinth lived a terrible monster - the Minotaur. The inhabitants of Athens were forced to pay tribute to Minos - to send young men and women for the voracious Minotaur. This lasted until Theseus, trapped in the labyrinth, killed the Minotaur. Thanks to Daedalus, the hero fled from Crete. The angry Minos ordered Daedalus to be imprisoned, but he made wings from bird feathers for himself and his son Icarus. With the help of wings, father and son left the island. Daedalus warned his son not to fly too high, but Icarus did not listen to his father and soared upward, towards the sun itself. From the heat of the sun's rays, the wax that held the feathers together melted, and the young man, deprived of wings, fell into the sea and drowned. In the 16th century, the legend of Icarus was a warning to the proud and was perceived by the short-sighted as a stern upstart who neglected his destiny. Of course, Bruegel also knew the ancient source of the legend - “Metamorphoses” by the ancient Roman poet Ovid, where the following is said about Daedalus and Icarus flying across the sky: Everyone who saw them, whether a fisherman with a trembling fishing rod, Or a shepherd with a club, or a plowman leaning on the plow, Everyone was petrified and, rushing freely across the sky, they were mistaken for unearthly gods. 11 The artist introduced into his painting the figures of a shepherd, a plowman and a fisherman, but gave these images a completely different meaning. They don’t see Icarus or don’t want to see: for example, the fisherman calmly continues to fish, although the young man fell into the water right before his eyes. And the shepherd looks at the sky, although his sheep are on the edge of the cliff, and the plowman, and the fisherman - they are all busy with their work. “No plow stops when someone dies,” says a Dutch proverb. The picture is full of peace and tranquility. Bruegel interprets the famous Greek myth in a very unexpected way. A human leg disappearing into the sea is all that remains of the fearless hero. No one noticed the death of Icarus: neither the shepherd, nor the peasant in the field, nor the fisherman on the shore. The author of the film did everything possible to ensure that the audience was the last to see the so-called fall of Icarus. Two bright points attract our gaze - these are the peasant’s shirt and the yellow sun above the water surface. After this, we begin to pay attention to small light details - white sheep, white mountains, a ship with white sails, and... a floundering man next to this ship. The main character of the picture is the sun, and man is a grain of sand flashing in its rays. Another one of the most beloved heroes of ancient Greek mythology, Apollo is the son of Zeus and the Titanide Leto, the twin brother of Artemis, one of the most important gods of the Olympic pantheon. Jealous Hera, the wife of Zeus, forbade Leto to set foot on solid ground. Therefore, Apollo and his sister Artemis were born on the floating island of Asteria, which after the birth of the twins became known as Delos. One of the myths tells that as punishment for killing the Cyclops, who forged lightning for Apollo's father Zeus, Zeus made his son a shepherd. Apollo was supposed to shepherd the flock of King Admetus, but he was careless about the assigned task, and the clever Mercury (Hermes) stole the flock from him. 12 However, Zeus ordered Mercury to return the stolen cows, after which he allowed Apollo to again take his place among the gods. The plot of this myth was depicted in the painting “Landscape with Apollo and Mercury” by Claude Lorrain (1600 – 1682). Lorren was born into a peasant family and was left an orphan at an early age. Having received initial knowledge of drawing from his elder brother, a skilled wood engraver in Freiburg, in Breisgau, in 1613-14. he went with one of his relatives to Italy. While working as a servant in the house of the landscape artist Agostino Tassi, he learned some technical techniques and skills. At first he carried out custom decorative work, the so-called. "landscape frescoes", but later he managed to become a professional "landscape painter" and concentrate on easel works. In addition, Lorrain was an excellent etcher; He left etching only in 1642, finally choosing painting. With great skill, the artist depicted the play of the sun's rays at different hours of the day, the freshness of the morning, the midday heat, the melancholic flicker of twilight, the cool shadows of warm nights, the shine of calm or slightly swaying waters, the transparency of clean air and the distance covered with light fog. In his work, two styles can be distinguished: paintings dating back to the early period of his activity are painted strongly, thickly, in warm colors; later ones - more smoothly, in a coldish tone. The composition of the painting “Landscape with Apollo and Mercury” (c. 1645) is structured in such a way that it draws the viewer’s eye deeper into the picture. To do this, the curved line of the coast goes into the distance. In the background, in the pre-dawn haze, a beautiful idyllic landscape with a Roman aqueduct is visible. The coloring of the painting is typical of late Lorrain and consists of a predominance of cold tones. The location of trees on both sides of the picture in the foreground creates the effect of a certain theatricality of what is happening; the heroes of the myth appear as characters in a play, where the main character is nature, in all its splendor. This 13th thought is suggested to us by the scale of the depicted figures and the angle at which they are posed (half a turn towards the viewer). According to the entry made by Lorrain in his Book of Truth, this picture was painted for Francesca Aberini. Apparently, this was a typo, and the artist was commissioned by either the aristocrat Francesca Alberini or the wealthy Roman Francesca Arberini. "Landscape with Apollo and Mercury" has been kept in Houlkham Hall since 1750. It was then that it was bought by the owner of Houlkham Hall, Thomas Coke, the first Earl of Leicester. Another hero of ancient Greek mythology is Leander. Leander is a young man from Abydos in Troas who fell in love with Hero, the priestess of Aphrodite, who lived in Sesta, located on the other side of the Hellespont. Every night, Gero waited for him to cross the strait and, to make him feel lighter, lit a fire on the tower. Leander swam to the lighthouse and reached the shore. One day the fire went out and Leander could not swim. In the morning his body was nailed to Gero's feet. Seeing him, Gero, in despair, threw herself into the sea from the tower. "Tower of Hero" was later shown in Sest. The plot of this myth interested Etty William. William Etty (1787-1849) - English painter of the Romantic period, a prominent representative of naturalism and nude painting William Etty occupies a worthy place among English artists. The artist had no equal in the feeling and skill of a colorist in England in the first half of the 19th century. Born in York on March 10, 1787. His father was a miller and bread baker. The future painter at the age of eleven and a half was forced to leave his father's roof; At the insistence of his father, he was assigned as an apprentice to a printing house. After seven years of apprenticeship and dull work in a printing house, Etty left for London. The help of his older brother and the patronage of his wealthy uncle helped William Etty develop directly as an artist. Etty began 14 his studies by sketching landscapes, copying various images, prints and other illustrations; all this was William Etty's first art school. At Smithfield, Etty made a copy of the ancient painting Cupid and Psyche, which became famous and thanks to which Etty was accepted as an academic student at Somerset House in 1807. Etty was obsessed with the nude, which he studied and painted throughout his artistic life. His paintings often evoke the sensual patterns and rich colors of the works of Titian and Peter Paul Rubens. Etty often turned to classical mythology and allegorical subjects for inspiration. His works were admired by Eugene Delacroix and other romantic painters. In the painting “Hero and Leander” (1828 -1829), the heroes are shown at the moment of their last tragic embrace, when life has already left them. Nude bodies, painted in luminous, sensual tones, stand out against a backdrop of dark sea and storm clouds. Gero's black hair and attire seem to merge with the shadow of the night. Despite the tragedy of the plot, the composition of the picture is rather dynamic, as evidenced by the diagonal arrangement of the figures in the foreground, the line of oncoming waves and the agitated sky. The combination of red-brown, light, dark blue and black tones in the color of the picture enhances the tragic feeling of what happened. This plot was embodied in the works of other painters (P. Rubens “Hero and Leander”, D. Fetti “Hero and Leander”, I.K. Aivazovsky “View of the Leander Tower in Constantinople”), in literature (Museum “Hero and Leander” , Ovid “Leander’s Message to Hero and Her Answer”, F. Schiller “Hero and Leander”, K. Marlowe “Hero and Leander”, A. Fet “Hero and Leander”, A. Kuprin “Hero, Leander and the Shepherd”, M Pavich “The Inside of the Wind”, J. Van Den Vondel “Hero and Leander”, in music (cantatas by G. F. Handel, A. 15 Scarlatti, opera by D. Bottesini, symphonic poem by A. Catalani, symphony No. 4 D Hessa). One of the frequently depicted Greek mythological characters is also Pandora. Pandora – (Greek) “gifted by all.” She was the first woman created by the will of Zeus by Hephaestus as punishment for the fact that Prometheus stole fire from the sky for people. Pandora was supposed to be an instrument of revenge. Hephaestus sculpted Pandora from earth and water, gave his creation an appearance similar to a goddess, a human voice and charm. Aphrodite endowed Pandora with beauty, Hermes with cunning, cunning, deceit and eloquence. Athena wove beautiful clothes for Pandora. Other gods also gave gifts to Pandora. Zeus gave Pandora in marriage to Prometheus's brother, Epithemius, to whom she gave birth to a daughter, Pyrrha. Epithemy, despite the warnings of Prometheus, accepted as a gift from Zeus a box in which all human vices, misfortunes, and diseases were contained. Tormented by curiosity, Pandora opened it and unleashed the disasters that have plagued humanity ever since. Only hope remained at the bottom, since Pandora managed to slam the lid. Allegorically, Pandora's box is a container of troubles; a gift fraught with trouble. The painting “Pandora Opening the Casket” (1896, private collection) was painted by the English artist John William Waterhouse (1849 – 1917). He was born in Rome, in the family of an artist. In the 1850s the family returned to England. Before entering the Royal Academy School in 1870, Waterhouse assisted his father in his studio. Quite often he is classified as a Pre-Raphaelite of English painters and writers who were guided by the aesthetic ideals of the middle (a combination of the 19th century, which included the Middle Ages, International Gothic and the early Italian Renaissance of the Quattrocento period - art "before Raphael" and other artists of the "High Renaissance"), although he formally did not belong to this movement. 16 Waterhouse supported the Pre-Raphaelite idea of ​​borrowing themes from poetry and mythology. He conveyed the drama of the moment with particular precision, and also demonstrated a brilliant mastery of composition and painting technique. The artist owes his popularity to the charm and charm of his thoughtful models. Waterhouse's work was praised by critics, his reputation was high, and he was imitated by younger artists. During his life, he painted approximately 200 paintings on mythological, historical and literary themes. In the foreground of the picture is a girl of extraordinary beauty. Her half-naked figure is located in the center of the picture, in a static pose, which, together with the absence of diagonal lines and the predominance of vertical and horizontal lines, creates a static composition, which is necessary here to create a mood of hopelessness and irreversibility of what happened - the troubles have flown out, and there is no turning back. To enhance the tragedy of what is happening, the artist used a specific color (shades of gray, brown, swamp) against which Pandora’s naked body attracts attention and seems touchingly unprotected against the backdrop of the broken lines of a dark forest in the background. Four lights flickering in the distance create a mystical tension also because they give room for imagination; these could be windows, or they could be the eyes of monsters - the forest fully allows such an assumption. Pandora herself, being, undoubtedly, the plot and compositional center, highlighted by color, lighting, enlargement of the image, is depicted by the artist as somewhat different from the myth, her pose suggests that she herself is surprised by what is happening and did not do it out of malicious intent, her face cannot belong to a woman whom Hermes endowed with cunning, cunning, and deceit. 17 The casket depicted next to Pandora is unusually beautiful; if made in gold, it would have attracted the attention of a woman who was not as weak (her appearance gives such an impression) as Pandora. By the way, its location on the left side of the picture fully corresponds to the peculiarities of our vision - we look at the picture from left to right and it comes into our field of vision almost before Pandora. Another element depicted in the picture requires comprehension - a source that begins somewhere and flows, occupying approximately half the space, to the right of Pandora. Only he moves in the picture, apparently symbolizing the transience of life, despite which, the plan of Zeus perfected by Pandora is eternal. A favorite subject in fine art is the myth of the abduction of Europa. Europa was the daughter of the Phoenician king Agenor. Zeus, who fell in love with her, appeared to the princess and her friends, who were walking on the seashore, in the form of a beautiful bull. The girls had fun playing with the bull, decorating its horns with flower garlands. Finally, Europe decided to sit on the back of the bull Zeus - he threw himself into the sea and took the princess to the island of Crete, where she became the wife of Zeus and subsequently gave birth to three hero sons. One of the artists who was inspired by this myth was Valentin Aleksandrovich Serov (1865 – 1911) - a Russian artist (painter and graphic artist), representative of Russian impressionism and modernism. Born in St. Petersburg on January 7 (19), 1865 in the family of the composer A.N. Serov and pianist V.S. Serova (née Bergman). In 1874-1875 1878-1882 took private lessons from I.E. Repin, who had a special influence on him; He also attended classes at the St. Petersburg Academy of Arts (1880-1885). Serov sensitively absorbed both the experience of contemporary foreign art and the lessons of the masters of the Renaissance and Baroque (in particular, D. Velazquez). Lived in St. Petersburg and Moscow. He traveled widely in Russia and Western Europe, and in 1907 he visited Greece. He was a member of the Association of Itinerants and the World of Art association. 18 The canvas “The Rape of Europe” (1910, Tretyakov Gallery, Moscow) is decorative; it is written in large color planes, which are rhythmically coordinated with a living, flexible line, leading to harmony between volume and plane. Serov makes a high horizon line, which allows him to treat space as a plane. The boundless sea is written conventionally, and at the same time the master achieves the feeling of the thickness of the infinite depth of water, which is cut diagonally across the canvas by the powerful figure of a bull - Zeus. In contrast to Zeus, the figure of Europa seems small and helpless, as if she timidly submitted to fate. Her face is reminiscent of the face of the bark of the Greek archaic times; it is like a mask with an unseeing gaze. At the same time, the figure of Europe is presented in a complex perspective and lively, expressive movement, as if all her forces are aimed at staying on the back of a bull. The unexpectedly lively and meaningful gaze of the bull-Zeus emphasizes the frozenness of the motionless face of Europe - the mask of the archaic bark, a kind of symbol of all Greek art. One of the meanings of the name “Europe” is “wide-eyed,” which is surprisingly consonant with the image of the face of Europe that Serov gives. Serov was the first of the artists who depicted the myth of the abduction of Europe to deviate from the original source, which tells about a white bull with golden horns - the brown bull is reminiscent of the paintings of red-figure vases. This plot was embodied in his work by V. Titian, P. Veronese, C. Lorrain, F. Boucher and other artists. Thus, starting from the Renaissance, after centuries of oblivion, monuments and literary works of ancient culture, and with them the images of ancient Greek mythology, again attracted the attention of authors of all genres. Writers, artists and musicians from various European countries again began to take episodes from ancient Greek mythology as the subjects of their works. In the XVII – XIX centuries. 19 The borrowing of subjects from ancient Greek mythology by European artists also became widespread. Antiquity was and remains an eternal school of artists. 2.3. The role of ancient Greek myths in human life. Myth is the most ancient value system. It is believed that in general, culture moves from myth to logos, that is, from fiction and convention to knowledge, to law. Myths arose from the urgent need of people to explain the origin of nature, people, the structure of the world, and to predict the fate of humanity. The method of explanation itself has a specific character and is fundamentally different from the scientific form of explanation and analysis of the world. What features distinguish mythological consciousness? In myth, man and society do not separate themselves from the surrounding natural elements: nature, society and man are merged into a single whole, inseparable, unified. There are no abstract concepts in myth; everything in it is very concrete, personified, animated. Mythological consciousness thinks in symbols: each image, hero, character denotes the phenomenon or concept behind it. Myth lives in its own, special time - the time of “first beginning”, “first creation”, to which human ideas about the passage of time are inapplicable. Myth thinks in images, lives by emotions, the arguments of reason are alien to it, it explains the world based not on knowledge, but on faith. What role did myths and myth-making play in the history of human society and human culture? They explained the world, nature, society, man in their own way, they in a unique, very specific form established a connection between the past, present and future of humanity. 20 Myths were a channel through which one generation passed on to another the accumulated experience, knowledge, values, cultural benefits, knowledge. 21 III. CONCLUSION Thus, summing up the above, we can draw the following conclusions. Ancient Greece made an invaluable contribution to European culture. The literature, architecture, philosophy, sciences, state system, laws, art and myths of Ancient Greece laid the foundation of modern European civilization. Ancient culture had a strong influence on the development of modern European peoples. The subjects of ancient Greek myths were widely represented in painting. Despite the fact that ancient Greek myths tell about days long past, artists turn to them in order to reflect contemporary reality through well-known plots. Since the Renaissance, after centuries of oblivion, monuments and literary works of ancient culture, and with them the images of ancient Greek mythology, have again attracted the attention of authors of all genres. Writers, artists and musicians from various European countries again began to take episodes from ancient Greek mythology as the subjects of their works. In the XVII – XIX centuries. The borrowing of subjects from ancient Greek mythology by European artists also became widespread. Antiquity was and remains an eternal school of artists. Millennia pass, and humanity still lives in the same political systems that appeared in Ancient Greece, scientists use the laws first formulated by the ancient Greeks, architects follow the classical canons of ancient temples. Modern sculptors and artists learn from the masterpieces of ancient Greek masters, and modern theater again and again opens the eyes of 21st century audiences to the eternal problems that both ancient Greek playwrights and philosophers pondered. We, modern people, learn from the myths of Ancient Greece to be like strong, persistent, dexterous and resilient heroes and gods. We are trying to reach heights in creative activity. We are trying to develop in ourselves that gift that, as the ancient Greeks believed, the gods endowed man with, so that the world would become brighter, cleaner and better. 23 IV. LIST OF REFERENCES 1. Burchard J. Culture of Italy during the Renaissance. M: Intrada, 2001. 2. Gershenzon - Chegodaeva N.M. Bruegel. M: Sovremennik, 1983. 3. Kun N.A. Legends and myths of Ancient Greece. M: Education, 1975. 4. Larionova E.I. K. Lorrain. Album. M: Art. 1979. 5. Legends and tales of Ancient Greece and Ancient Rome. Ed. A.A. Neihardt. M: Pravda, 1987. 6. Losev A.F. Philosophy, mythology, culture. M: Education, 1993. 7. Popular art encyclopedia. Ed. V.M. Polevoy. M: Soviet Encyclopedia, 1986 8. Rose - Marie Hagen R. Pieter Bruegel the Elder. M: Art - Spring, 2000. 9. Rosenwasser V.B. Valentin Serov. M: Veche, 1990. 10. Chugunov G.I. Valentin Serov in St. Petersburg. M: Nauka, 1990. 24 V. APPENDIX 1. S. Botticelli. "Birth of Venus" (1484 -1486) 2. P. Bruegel. "Landscape with the Fall of Icarus." (1555-1558) 3. K. Lorrain. "Landscape with Apollo and Mercury." (c. 1645) 4. E. William. "Hero and Leander." (1828 -1829) 5. D. Waterhouse. "Pandora Opening the Casket" (1896) 6. V. Serov. "The Rape of Europa". (1910) 25

The essence of myth is the unity of man and nature. Nature acts as a world of formidable, but related to man, mythological creatures - demons and gods.

And art is an expression of a person’s need for the figurative and symbolic embodiment of significant moments in his life. This is the second reality, one of the most important needs of the human soul.

During the Renaissance, painters enthusiastically began to depict mythological subjects on their canvases. In the modern era, against the backdrop of general changes in the fine arts, interest in classical mythological subjects somewhat dried up, but interest in mythical monsters, whose images are actively used in modern art, has revived. Russian painters traditionally turned to the theme of Slavic mythology, depicting in their paintings both epic heroes and mythical creatures of Slavic mythology.

15th century Famous painting by the artist Sandro Botticelli "Birth of Venus"

Botticelli is an Italian painter of the early Renaissance, a representative of the Florentine school, one of the most prominent artists of the Italian Renaissance. The artist wrote “The Birth of Venus” for Lorenzo di Pierfrancesco Medici. The plot of this picture is based on the myth of how the goddess of love was born from the foam of the sea.

Venus, standing in a shell, floats, urged on by Zephyr and Chloris, and Ora, one of the goddess’s companions, comes towards her, holding a veil to envelop her. The whimsical folds of bedspreads and clothes fluttering in the wind, the waves on the sea, the broken line of the shore, the “corrugated” shell of the shell, and finally the flying hair of Venus - all this sets off the smooth outlines of the goddess’s body and enhances the feeling of supreme harmony that her appearance evokes. The characters’ hands almost close above Venus’s head, and it seems as if an arch is overshadowing her, echoed by the rounded bottom of the shell. Thus, the figure of the goddess is closed into an imaginary oval. Venus here is the center to which everything strives.

The beautiful face of the heroine is reminiscent of the faces of Madonnas in Botticelli’s paintings, and therefore in this work the Christian theme sounds through the ancient theme, it was this combination of ancient humanism and Christianity that gave rise to the phenomenon of the Italian Renaissance.

16th century. Painting Raphael Santi "The Vision of Ezekiel".

This small canvas was painted for a private customer. The background of the picture fully corresponds to the biblical description of this vision: “...a stormy wind came from the north, a great cloud and swirling fire, and a brightness around it” (Ezekiel 1:4). In the vision itself, God is depicted floating through the air, supported by “the likenesses of four animals.” tradition with their four winged creatures: a man or angel, a lion, a bull and an eagle, which symbolize in the visual arts the four Evangelists. It was this Christian tradition, and not the actual description of Ezekiel’s vision, that Raphael followed when painting this picture. The painting is small in size, but it gives an idea of ​​Raphael’s skill in solving such a complex composition. In it, the artist develops a task that is exceptional in its difficulty - to show rapid flight. The figure of the God of Hosts himself is given from a very complex perspective. The pictorial image of God is full of such titanic power, and the movement is conveyed so perfectly that it seems to the viewer as if “The Vision of Ezekiel” is a large canvas, and not a tiny painting, the dimensions of which are barely larger than a miniature. The picture is based on one of the most rich in mythical symbolism biblical subjects.

17th century "Kingdom of Flora" famous French artist Nicolas Poussin.

On his canvases, the heroes of antiquity came to life again to perform feats, go against the will of the gods, or simply sing and have fun. Poussin's painting "The Kingdom of Flora" was created based on an ancient legend told by the Roman poet Ovid. This is a poetic allegory of the origin of flowers, which depicts heroes of ancient myths turned into flowers

Heroes who die in the prime of life turn into flowers after death and find themselves in the kingdom of Flora. Human life is interpreted in its inseparability with the life of nature. Strict order reigns in the universe, its laws are reasonable. This is also felt in Poussin’s painting, which is distinguished by the balance of its composition and the beauty of its characters, inspired by images of ancient sculpture. Logic and poetry coexist harmoniously on this canvas. Here he depicts his ideal - a person living a single happy life with nature.

In all his works, Poussin expressed the aesthetic ideal of classicism, which is based on the imitation of “decorated nature.” This means that the artist reflected only the sublime, beautiful and perfect in man and life, while ignoring the base, ugly and ugly. “The Kingdom of Flora” is one of Poussin’s paintings, distinguished by its subtle and rich development of color.

An example of mythological subjects in 18th century painting is the canvas Francois Boucher "Jupiter and Callisto". In the painting, the artist turned to the “Metamorphoses” of the Roman writer Ovid, who retold the myth of the god Jupiter, who, having fallen in love with the nymph Callisto and wanting to seduce her, took the form of the goddess Diana. The artist interpreted a sensual episode of ancient mythology in a superficial, playful spirit. Graceful, graceful figures of his ancient heroines look like porcelain figurines. Boucher loved light painting and preferred elegant blue, pink and green tones. In the works of Boucher himself, nymphs and Venus appear every now and then. And the titles of the works speak for themselves - "The Triumph of Venus", "Toilet of Venus", "Diana's Bath". He knew how to enjoy the beauty of life and encouraged others to do the same. The Rococo style was his native element, here he felt like a fish in water - natural and organic. Decorativeness, graceful intimacy, a boudoir atmosphere, pastel colors - these are the main features of Francois Boucher's artistic style.

19th century. Painting by Karl Pavlovich Bryullov “The Last Day of Pompeii”

The death of Pompeii in Bryullov’s view is the death of the entire ancient world, the symbol of which becomes the most central figure of the canvas - a beautiful woman who fell to her death by falling from a chariot. Bryullov is shocked by the inner beauty and dedication of these people, who do not lose human dignity in the face of an inevitable catastrophe. In these terrible moments, they do not think about themselves, but strive to help their loved ones, to protect them from danger. The artist sees himself among the inhabitants of Pompeii with a box of paints and brushes on his head. He is here next to them to help, to support their spirit. But even before his death, the artist’s keen observation does not leave him - he clearly sees human figures perfect in their plastic beauty in the flashes of lightning. They are beautiful not only because of the extraordinary lighting, but also because they themselves seem to radiate the light of spiritual nobility and greatness. Almost six years have passed since that memorable day when, on the streets of lifeless Pompeii, Bryullov had the idea to paint a picture about the death of this ancient city. In the last year, the artist worked so furiously that he was more than once carried out of the studio in a state of complete exhaustion.

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Introduction.

The achievements of the ancient Greeks are amazing in all areas, and the entire European civilization is based on them. Antiquity accompanies European humanity throughout its entire journey. “We see the Greeks and speak with their figures of speech,” said Jacob Burckhardt.

One of the earliest and most essential elements of ancient culture is myth. Myth (from the Greek muthos - word, legend) is a story about the origin of the world, gods, heroes, various peoples, events of natural and social history that arose in ancient times and were passed down orally from generation to generation. Myth is an extremely important step in knowledge and understanding of the world around us, in human self-knowledge. Myth combines the real and the fictional, the rational and the emotional, the natural and the cultural. Myth is a universal generalization of human life, an integral property of all culture.

Greek myths have deeply penetrated the way of thinking of modern people, and we sometimes don’t notice how we talk about panic fear, about Olympian calm, compare a fearless man with Hercules, and a determined woman with an Amazon. And the expressions Trojan horse, apple of discord, Ariadne's thread and many others are understandable to almost everyone. For centuries, myths have accumulated the experience of peoples, their ideas about good and evil, about worthy and unworthy behavior. Passed down from generation to generation, they taught people how to live. In modern life, we very often come across titles and names from ancient Greek mythology. The myths of Ancient Greece have inspired poets, artists, sculptors and composers all over the world for many centuries, which means that without knowledge of the plots it is impossible to understand many works of art.

Claude Lorrain. Landscape with Apollo and Mercury.

Dimensions:55 x 45 cm
Material, technique:Canvas, oil
Date of creation:Around 1645

Location: France and Italy, Rome, Doria Pamphili Gallery

Information about the artist.

Birth name: Claude Gelle Date of birth: 1600 Place of birth: Chamagne, Lorraine Date of death: November 23, 1682 Place of death: Rome, Italy Nationality: France Genre: landscape painter Art movement: Classicism

Claude Laurent was born in 1600 into a peasant family. He was left an orphan early. Having received initial knowledge of drawing from his elder brother, a skilled wood engraver in Freiburg, in Breisgau, in 1613-14. he went with one of his relatives to Italy. While working as a servant in the house of the landscape artist Agostino Tassi, he learned some technical techniques and skills. At first he carried out custom decorative work, the so-called. "landscape frescoes", but later he managed to become a professional "landscape painter" and concentrate on easel works. In addition, Lorrain was an excellent etcher; He left etching only in 1642, finally choosing painting.

According to the testimony of (a German artist and writer, whose extensive work “The German Academy” (2 vols., 1675-79) contains valuable information about artists and collections of the 17th century), “in order to penetrate into the essence of the art of landscape, [Lorrain] tried in various ways approach nature: lay from early morning until late at night under the open sky, trying to understand how to most plausibly paint the dawn at dawn and at sunset; and when he managed to catch what he was looking for, he immediately tempered his colors according to what he saw, ran home with them and applied them to the picture he had planned, thereby achieving the highest truthfulness, unknown before him.” With great skill, the artist depicted the play of the sun’s rays at various hours of the day , the freshness of the morning, the midday heat, the melancholic flicker of twilight, the cool shadows of warm nights, the shine of calm or slightly swaying waters, the transparency of clean air and the distance covered with light fog. In his work, two styles can be distinguished: paintings dating back to the early period of his activity are painted strongly, thickly, in warm colors; later ones - more smoothly, in a coldish tone. Myth. The myth tells that as punishment for the murder of the Cyclops, who forged lightning for Apollo's father Zeus, Zeus made his son a shepherd. Apollo was supposed to shepherd the flock of King Admetus, but he was careless about the assigned task, and the clever Mercury (Hermes) stole the flock from him. However, Zeus ordered Mercury to return the stolen cows, after which he allowed Apollo to once again take his place among the gods. Analysis of the picture. The composition of the painting is structured in such a way that it draws the viewer’s eye deeper into the picture. To do this, the curved line of the coast goes into the distance. In the background, in the pre-dawn haze, a beautiful idyllic landscape with a Roman aqueduct is visible. The coloring of the painting is typical of late Lorrain and consists of a predominance of cold tones. The location of trees on both sides of the picture in the foreground creates the effect of a certain theatricality of what is happening; the heroes of the myth appear as characters in a play, where the main character is nature, in all its splendor. This idea is suggested to us by the scale of the depicted figures and the angle at which they are posed (half a turn towards the viewer). The history of the creation of the painting. According to the entry made by Lorrain in his Book of Truth, this picture was painted for Francesca Aberini. Apparently, this was a typo, and the artist was commissioned by either the aristocrat Francesca Alberini or the wealthy Roman Francesca Arberini. "Landscape with Apollo and Mercury" has been kept in Houlkham Hall since 1750. It was then that it was bought by the owner of Houlkham Hall, Thomas Coke, the first Earl of Leicester. Resources used: E. I. Larionova, K. Lorrain. Albom, M., 1979 "Popular art encyclopedia." Ed. Polevoy V.M.; M.: Publishing house "Soviet Encyclopedia", 1986 Kun N.A. Legends and myths of Ancient Greece. Veche Publishing House, 2007. William Etty "Hero and Leander" 1828-1829. Private collection.

Information about the artist. Etty William (1787-1849), English painter of the Romantic period, a prominent representative of naturalism and the execution of nudes, William Etty occupies a worthy place among English artists. The artist had no equal in the feeling and skill of a colorist in England in the first half of the 19th century. Born in York on March 10, 1787. His father was a miller and bread baker. The future painter at the age of eleven and a half was forced to leave his father's roof; At the insistence of his father, he was assigned as an apprentice to a printing house. After seven years of apprenticeship and dull work in a printing house, Etty left for London.
The help of his older brother and the patronage of his wealthy uncle helped William Etty develop directly as an artist. Etty began his studies by sketching landscapes, copying various images, print designs and other illustrations; all this was William Etty's first art school. At Smithfield, Etty made a copy of the ancient painting Cupid and Psyche, which became famous and thanks to which Etty was accepted as an academic student at Somerset House in 1807. Etty was obsessed with the nude, which he studied and painted throughout his artistic life. His paintings often evoke the sensual patterns and rich colors of the works of Titian and Peter Paul Rubens. Etty often turned to classical mythology and allegorical subjects for inspiration. His works were admired by Eugene Delacroix and other romantic painters. The plot of the myth. Leander is a young man from the city who fell in love with Hero, a priestess who lived in Sest, located on the other side of the strait. Every night, Gero waited for him to cross the strait and, to make him feel lighter, lit a fire on the tower. Leander swam on and reached the shore. One day the fire went out and Leander could not swim. In the morning his body was nailed to Gero's feet. Seeing him, Gero, in despair, threw herself into the sea from the tower. “The Tower of Hero” was later shown in Sesta. Analysis of the picture. The heroes are shown at the moment of the last tragic embrace, when life has already left them. Nude bodies, painted in luminous, sensual tones, stand out against a backdrop of dark sea and storm clouds. Gero's black hair and attire seem to merge with the shadow of the night. Despite the tragedy of the plot, the composition of the picture is rather dynamic, as evidenced by the diagonal arrangement of the figures in the foreground, the line of oncoming waves and the agitated sky. The combination of red-brown, light, dark blue and black tones in the coloring of the picture enhances the tragic feeling of what happened. The embodiment of the plot by other authors: -in painting P. Rubens "Hero and Leander"
D. Fetty "Hero and Leander"
I.K. Aivazovsky "View of the Leander Tower in Constantinople" -in literature Museum "Hero and Leander" (translation by M. Drinevich, editing by M. Grabar-Passek)
Ovid "Leander's Message to Hero and Her Reply"
F. Schiller "Hero and Leander" (translation by V. Levik)
K. Marlowe "Hero and Leander" (translation by Yu. Korenev)
A. Fet "Hero and Leander"
A. Kuprin "Hero, Leander and the Shepherd"
M. Pavich "The Inside of the Wind" (novel about Hero and Leander)
J. Van Den Vondel "Hero and Leander" (to the painting by Rubens, translation by V. Shvyryaev) -in music Cantata by G. F. Handel (Ero e Leandro HWV 150) Cantata by A. Scarlatti
Opera by D. Bottesini (Ero e Leandro, 1879; libretto by A. Boito) Symphonic poem by A. Catalani (1884),
Fourth Symphony by D. Hess

Valentin Serov. The Rape of Europa. 1910. Oil on canvas.71 x 98. Tretyakov Gallery, Moscow, Russia.
Information about the artist. Valentin Aleksandrovich Serov, 1865-1911 Russian artist (painter and graphic artist), representative of Russian impressionism and modernism. Born in St. Petersburg on January 7 (19), 1865 in the family of the composer A.N. Serov and pianist V.S. Serova (née Bergman). In 1874-1875 - 1878-1882 he took private lessons from I.E. Repin, who had a special influence on him; He also attended classes at the St. Petersburg Academy of Arts (1880-1885). Serov sensitively learned both the experience of contemporary foreign art and the lessons of the masters of the Renaissance and Baroque (in particular). Lived in St. Petersburg and Moscow. He traveled widely in Russia and Western Europe, and in 1907 he visited Greece. I went to Abramtsevo. He was a member of the “Association of Itinerants” and the “World of Art” association. Myth. Europa was the daughter of the Phoenician king Agenor. Zeus, who fell in love with her, appeared to the princess and her friends, who were walking on the seashore, in the form of a beautiful bull. The girls had fun playing with the bull, decorating its horns with flower garlands (a fragment of a garland can also be seen in Serov’s painting). Finally, Europe decided to sit on the back of the bull Zeus - he rushed into the sea and took the princess to the island of Crete, where she became the wife of Zeus and subsequently gave birth to three hero sons. Analysis of the picture. “The painting “The Rape of Europa” is designed decoratively; it is written in large color planes, which are rhythmically coordinated with a living, flexible line, leading to harmony between volume and plane. Serov makes a high horizon line, which allows him to treat space as a plane. The boundless sea is written conventionally, and at the same time the master achieves the feeling of the thickness of the infinite depth of water, which is cut diagonally across the canvas by the powerful figure of a bull - Zeus. In contrast to Zeus, the figure of Europa seems small and helpless, as if she timidly submitted to fate. Her face is reminiscent of the face of the bark of the Greek archaic times; it is like a mask with an unseeing gaze. At the same time, the figure of Europe is presented in a complex perspective and with lively, expressive movement, as if all her forces are aimed at staying on the back of the bull.” (4)

“The unexpectedly lively and meaningful gaze of the bull-Zeus emphasizes the frozenness of the motionless face of Europe - the mask of the archaic bark, a kind of symbol of all Greek art. One of the meanings of the name “Europe” is “wide-eyed,” which is surprisingly consonant with the image of the face of Europe that Serov gives.” (1)

“Serov was the first of the artists who depicted the myth of the abduction of Europe to deviate from the original source, which tells about a white bull with golden horns - the brown bull is reminiscent of the paintings of red-figure vases.” (1)

The embodiment of the plot from other artists. , G., F., G. and others.

Pieter Bruegel. Landscape with the fall of Icarus. 1555-58, oil on canvas, 74 x 112 cm.
Museum of Fine Arts (Musées Royaux des Beaux-Arts), Brussels
Information about the artist.

Pieter Bruegel the Elder (-) - painter and graphic artist, the most famous and significant of the artists. Master and genre scenes. In order not to confuse Pieter Bruegel with his son, also a painter, the Elder was later christened Bruegel of the Muzhitsky. Of all Bruegel's surviving paintings, about a third are in . There are no works by Bruegel in Russian museums. Some famous paintings: “The Suicide of Saul”, “The Conversion of Saul”, Vienna “Census in Bethlehem”, “Massacre of the Innocents”, “Sea Battle in the Harbor of Naples”, “The Fall of Icarus”.

Myth. According to ancient legend, the builder Daedalus appeared on the island of Crete after he killed his nephew, whom he envied, in his homeland, Attica. The latter was very talented and managed to create the tools that humanity needed: a saw, a compass, a pottery wheel. On Crete, Daedalus built a huge palace with underground labyrinths for King Minos. In the labyrinth lived a terrible monster - the Minotaur. The inhabitants of Athens were forced to pay tribute to Minos - to send young men and women for the voracious Minotaur. This lasted until Theseus, trapped in the labyrinth, killed the Minotaur. Thanks to Daedalus, the hero fled from Crete. The angry Minos ordered Daedalus to be imprisoned, but he made wings from bird feathers for himself and his son Icarus. With the help of wings, father and son left the island. Daedalus warned his son not to fly too high, but Icarus did not listen to his father and soared upward, towards the sun itself. From the heat of the sun's rays, the wax that held the feathers together melted, and the young man, deprived of wings, fell into the sea and drowned.

Analysis of the picture.

“At the first glance at the picture, the viewer has a question: “Why is it called that.” After all, pictures of a peaceful working life unfold before the viewer: here is a plowman walking along a furrow, following his horse, a little to the side of him, shepherds among a flock of sheep are discussing some of their concerns, sails are fluttering over the surface of the sea, absorbed in work and the beauty of the surrounding nature, in front of in which the death of an individual is only an insignificant episode. The death of a brave young man cannot stop the movement of life.” (1)

In the 16th century, the legend of Icarus was perceived as a stern warning to the proud and short-sighted upstarts who neglected their destiny. Of course, Bruegel also knew the ancient source of the legend - “Metamorphoses” by the ancient Roman poet Ovid, where the following is said about Daedalus and Icarus flying across the sky:

Everyone who sees them is a fisherman with a trembling fishing rod,
Or a shepherd with a club, or a plowman leaning on the plow, -
Everyone was petrified and they, flying freely across the sky,
The gods were taken for unearthly.
The artist introduced into his painting the figures of a shepherd, a plowman and a fisherman, but gave these images a completely different meaning. They don’t see Icarus or don’t want to see: for example, the fisherman calmly continues to fish, although the young man fell into the water right before his eyes. And the shepherd looks at the sky, although his sheep are on the edge of the cliff, and the plowman, and the fisherman - they are all busy with their work. “No plow stops when someone dies,” says a Dutch proverb. The picture is full of peace and tranquility. Bruegel interprets the famous Greek myth in a very unexpected way. A human leg disappearing into the sea is all that remains of the fearless hero. No one noticed the death of Icarus: neither the shepherd, nor the peasant in the field, nor the fisherman on the shore. The author of the film did everything possible to ensure that the audience was the last to see the so-called fall of Icarus. Two bright points attract our gaze - these are the peasant’s shirt and the yellow sun above the water surface. After this, we begin to pay attention to small light details - white sheep, white mountains, a ship with white sails, and... a floundering man next to this ship. The main character of the picture is the sun, and the man is a grain of sand flashing in its rays.

Sandro Botticelli. Birth of Venus.

1484-1486. Canvas, tempera. 278.5 x 172.5.

Information about the artist. Sandro Botticelli - Born into the family of a wealthy townsman, Mariano di Vanni Filipepi. Received a good education. The nickname Botticelli (“barrel”) passed to Sandro from his broker brother, who was a fat man. He studied painting with a monk and adopted from him that passion for depicting touching motifs that distinguishes Lippi’s historical paintings. Then he worked for a famous sculptor. In the city he organizes his own workshop. Myth. There are different tales about the origin of Aphrodite.

Classical Aphrodite emerged naked from an airy sea shell nearby - hence the nickname "Cypris" - and rode the shell to the shore. wearing golden diadems, they crowned her with a golden crown, adorned her with a gold necklace and earrings, and the gods marveled at her charms and were kindled with the desire to take her as a wife.

Analysis of the picture.

In The Birth of Venus, Sandro Botticelli depicted the image of Aphrodite Urania - the heavenly Venus, daughter of Uranus, born from the sea without a mother. The painting does not depict the birth itself, but the moment that followed, when Venus, driven by the breath of the geniuses of the air, reaches the shore. In addition to Venus, the painting depicts the nymph Ora, who is the embodiment of nature, she is ready to cover Venus with a cloak. Ora is one of the three Mountains, nymphs of the seasons. This Mountain, judging by the flowers covering its clothes, is the patron of spring, that time of year when the power of Venus reaches its peak. Perhaps this painting was inspired by one of Homer's hymns, which describes how Zephyr, the god of the west wind, brought Venus to the island of Cyprus, where the Mountains accepted her.

In the pose of Venus, one can note the influence of classical Greek sculpture (posture, support of the figure on one leg, hand gesture). Apparently, the proportions of the body are based on the canon of harmony and beauty, also developed by.

The composition of the picture, thanks to the frontal image of Venus in the center, symmetrically located figures on the right and left, can be defined as static. This composition makes the picture calm and majestic. And the lines of Ora’s veil and Zephyr’s cape, the lines of their bodies, Venus’s hair, falling flowers and the rhythm of the waves, fill the picture with internal movement, the movement of air. The coloring of the painting can be defined as soft, affectionate; even for Ora’s cloak, the artist chose a muted red tone, allowing for emphasis, but not causing irritation.

“Among Botticelli's innovations, important was the use of canvas, rather than board, for a work of such large size. He added a minimal amount of fat to the pigments, so the canvas remained strong and elastic for a long time, and the paint did not crack. It was also established that Botticelli applied a protective layer of egg yolk to the painting, thanks to which “The Birth of Venus” was well preserved.” (3)

William Waterhouse. Pandora opening a casket. 1896 Found in a private collection Information about the artist. John William Waterhouse, English artist.
John William Waterhouse was born in 1849 in Rome, the son of an artist. In the 1850s the family returned to England. Before entering the Royal Academy School in 1870, Waterhouse assisted his father in his studio.

Quite often he is classified as a Pre-Raphaelite, although he did not formally belong to this movement. Waterhouse supported the Pre-Raphaelite idea of ​​borrowing themes from poetry and mythology. He conveyed the drama of the moment with particular precision, and also demonstrated a brilliant mastery of composition and painting technique. The artist owes his popularity to the charm and charm of his thoughtful models.

Waterhouse's work was praised by critics, his reputation was high, and he was imitated by younger artists. During his life, he painted approximately 200 paintings on mythological, historical and literary themes.

He is one of those few artists who gained fame during his lifetime and could live in abundance thanks to his works.

Myth. Pandora - Greek "gifted in every way." Pandora was the first woman, created by the will of Zeus by Hephaestus as punishment for the fact that Prometheus stole fire from the sky for people. Pandora was supposed to be an instrument of revenge. Hephaestus sculpted Pandora from earth and water, gave his creation an appearance similar to a goddess, a human voice and charm. Aphrodite endowed Pandora with beauty, Hermes with cunning, cunning, deceit and eloquence. Athena wove beautiful clothes for Pandora. Other gods also gave gifts to Pandora.
Zeus gave Pandora in marriage to Prometheus's brother Epimetheus, to whom she gave birth to a daughter, Pyrrha. Epithemy, despite the warnings of Prometheus, accepted as a gift from Zeus a box in which all human vices, misfortunes, and diseases were contained. Tormented by curiosity, Pandora opened it and unleashed the disasters that have plagued humanity ever since. Only hope remained at the bottom, since Pandora managed to slam the lid.
Allegorically, Pandora's box is a container of troubles; a gift fraught with trouble. Analysis of the picture.

In the foreground of the picture is a girl of extraordinary beauty. Her half-naked figure is located in the center of the picture, in a static pose, which, together with the absence of diagonal lines and the predominance of vertical and horizontal lines, creates a static composition, which is necessary here to create a mood of hopelessness and irreversibility of what happened - the troubles have flown out, and there is no turning back.

To enhance the tragedy of what is happening, the artist used a specific color (shades of gray, brown, swamp) against which Pandora’s naked body attracts attention and seems touchingly unprotected against the backdrop of the broken lines of a dark forest in the background. Four lights flickering in the distance create a mystical tension also because they give room for imagination; these could be windows, or they could be the eyes of monsters - the forest fully allows such an assumption.

Pandora herself, being, undoubtedly, the plot and compositional center, highlighted by color, lighting, enlargement of the image, is depicted by the artist as somewhat different from the myth, her pose suggests that she herself is surprised by what is happening and did not do it out of malicious intent, her face cannot belong to to the woman whom Hermes endowed deceit, cunning, deceit.

The casket depicted next to Pandora is unusually beautiful; if made in gold, it would have attracted the attention of a woman who was not as weak (her appearance gives such an impression) as Pandora. By the way, its location on the left side of the picture fully corresponds to the peculiarities of our vision - we look at the picture from left to right and it comes into our field of vision almost before Pandora.

Another element depicted in the picture requires comprehension - a source that begins somewhere and flows, occupying approximately half the space, to the right of Pandora. Only he moves in the picture, apparently symbolizing the transience of life, despite which, the plan of Zeus perfected by Pandora is eternal.