Ovid’s Metamorphosis– Mythology into Art

Second only to Biblical texts, Mythology has been an ever present source of narratives for artists from the Renaissance and even before in Greek and Roman frescoes, sculpture and pottery. Metamorphosis, Ovid’s iconic poem was written during the latter part of the poet’s life and completed in exile in Tomis, a Black Sea town, around 8 AD. The title is the Greek word for ‘transformation’, the theme that links all the various myths together, from the ‘Creation’ to ‘The Death of Achilles’, in tales of youthful folly, lust, love, revenge and the wrath of the ‘Gods’. The well known stories of, Daedalus & Icarus, Diana & Adonis, Narcissus & Echo, Orpheus & Eurydice, Perseus & Andromeda, and Pygmalion, to name just a few, have all been brought to life by artists as diverse as Botticelli, Correggio, Titian, Bernini, Caravaggio, Canova, Burne-Jones, Waterhouse, Leighton, Vallotton and many others. Here are works of beauty and consummate skill, transcending time and providing so much pleasure; please join me to explore.