ANDROMEDA AND THE SEA-MONSTER As Perseus journeyed over land and sea on his great quest, he often thought of the dear mother he had left in Seriphus. Now that his task was done he longed to fly over the blue waters of the Mediterranean to see her, to know that she was safe from the cruel…
Category: Art Inspired by the Ancient Greeks
Dangerous Beauty: Medusa in Classical Art – The Metropolitan Museum of Art
“Dangerous Beauty: Medusa in Classical Art : The Metropolitan Museum of Art, www.metmuseum.org/exhibitions/listings/2018/dangerous-beauty. Accessed 6 Sept. 2022. “The exhibition publication explores the ways in which Medusa and other hybrid creatures were depicted from antiquity to the present day.” The Met “Beginning in the fifth century b.c., the Gorgon Medusa—a legendary monster whose gaze could turn…
Perseus and His Quest to Kill the Gorgon Medussa
THE QUEST OF PERSEUS Medusa and her two sisters were named the Gorgons. The sisters had always been plain and even terrible to see, but Medusa had once been fair to look upon. When she was young and beautiful her home was in a northern land where the sun never shone, so she begged Athene to…
Danae and the Tower – The Birth of Perseus
When you think of a hero, you think of a man who does brave, unselfish deeds. But to the Hellenes or Greeks a hero was one who was half god, half man—whose one parent was a god while the other was a mortal. So the god Zeus was the father of Perseus, the hero of…
Contrapposto – A Gift from the Ancient Greeks
Before the era of Ancient Greece, artists and artisans depicted the human figure as a straight and rigid form. The Ancient Greeks discovered that the more natural, the more human way, to depict the figure is that presented in Contrapposto. In simplistic terms, a figure standing in Contrapposto will place his weight on only one…
Neoclassicism and the Classical Ideal
In terms of art history, the Classical Period of Art was Created During the Eras of Ancient Greece and Ancient Rome. Marble statue of Aphrodite 1st or 2nd century A.D. Roman – Copy of a Greek statue of the 3rd or 2nd century B.C. “The goddess of love is shown as though surprised at her…
Minoan Art
“The Bronze Age culture of Crete, called Minoan, after King Minos of Crete from Greek mythology, is one of the most vibrant and admired in all of European prehistory. Coastline of Crete in 2017 (photo: belpo, CC BY-NC 2.0) “The island itself is no doubt part of the story; at the watery intersection of Asia,…
Knossos – An Ancient Greek Palace
“The Aegean world is a very beautiful one. The Islands rise out of the sea like jewels sparkling in the sunshine. It is a world associated with spring, of “fresh new grass and dewey lotus, and crocus and hyacinth,”[1] a land where the gods were born, one rich in legend and myth and fairy tale,…
Art Inspired by the Ancient Greeks
The Ancient Greeks adored Classical Beauty. Some of the most incredible sculptures and architecture were created by them, at least 2000 years ago. But the ideal of classical beauty, that inspired Ancient Greek sculpture, has resurfaced in several of the more recent eras of art history. The Feast of Acheloüs – Painted by Peter Paul…