Mythical Friday

by chuckofish

While looking for illustrations of Greek myths, I came across some wonderful Pre-Raphaelite paintings, and I thought I would share a few of them this morning. Greek myth was the perfect subject for the overwrought Pre-Raphaelites. It’s full of pretty, half-naked nymphs and twisted plots. Take, for example, John Collier’s take on the mysterious Oracle at Delphi as she sits with her laurel branch over her hallucinogenic fumes.

John Roddam Spence Stanhope’s (that’s a mouthful) Orpheus and Eurydice is also darkly effective, though Orpheus’ drapery is unusual to say the least.

Much as I like the other two, this painting by John William Waterhouse of water nymphs charming Hylas takes ominous to another level.

The Oracle at Delphi and Orpheus and Eurydice are subjects that require a certain dark mystery, and the artists manage to convey that well. But Hylas and the water nymphs is deceptive. At first glance it seems pretty and romantic, but if you know the story and look again, something else emerges – the nymphs have a certain inhuman, predatory quality that is unsettling. Poor Hylas was a member of Jason’s expedition. One day he encountered the nymphs when he stopped at a pond to get a drink. The nymphs beguiled him and he disappeared never to be found. Hercules refused to continue with the Argonauts and spent a lot of time looking for Hylas without success.

If you are at all acquainted with Greek mythology, you’ll know that the ones depicted here are among the most straightforward and least twisted. Let’s just leave it at that. Have a wonderful weekend and do not let beautiful but soulless things beguile you!

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A sad Friday update: my son just shared that Hilary Mantel, the author of the incomparable Wolf Hall and its sequels, as well as the excellent Place of Greater Safety, has passed away. She was a visionary writer who knew how to approach history and imagine a world beyond the present.

The BBC obituary quotes her:

“The essence of the thing is not to judge with hindsight, not to pass judgement from the lofty perch of the 21st Century when we know what happened,” she said.

“It’s to be there with them in that hunting party at Wolf Hall, moving forward with imperfect information and perhaps wrong expectations, but in any case moving forward into a future that is not pre-determined, but where chance and hazard will play a terrific role.”

She will be missed! Rest in peace, wonderful Hilary.