Art in detail: Greek mythological creatures, female beauty and beastly ugliness (Famous Paintings)

Art in Detail

Greek mythological creatures

female beauty and beastly ugliness

(Famous Paintings)

Sirens that lure sailors to their death by their sweet voice, the ravenous Sphinx guarding the entrance to a city,

Scylla a beautiful sea nymph turned into a hideous man-eating monster

...

these Greek mythological creatures combine female beauty with beastly ugliness and have inspired generations

of artists create well-known masterpieces.

The Sphinx

MOREAU, GustaveOedipus and the Sphinx1864Oil on canvas, 206 x 105 cmMetropolitan Museum of Art, New York

THE SPHINX

a crazy monster with the head and breasts of a woman, the body of a lioness, the wings of a bird, and (some say)

a snake for a tail.

Her favorite activity is sitting on a big rock outside of Thebes and asking everybody a riddle.

When people get it wrong (and they always do) she strangles them, or eats them, or some other such awful thing.

OEDIPUS:

The Sphinx Gets Frisky ... Maybe, I should've married her. It would've been a lot less trouble.

The Harpies

PERRIER, FrançoisAeneas and his Companions Fighting the Harpies1646-1647Oil on canvas, 155 x 218 cmMusée du Louvre, Paris

THE HARPIES

...these awful creatures have a nasty habit of swooping down from the sky, snatching whatever food

they see, and then pooping on the remains. (Um... gross.)

Who says Harpies are ugly?

Medusa

RUBENS, Peter PaulThe Head of Medusac. 1617Oil on wood, 69 x 118 cmKunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna

MEDUSA

definitely isn't going to win any beauty pageants.

She and her Gorgon sisters, Euryale and Stheno, are totally revolting.

They have snakes for hair and anyone who looks them in the eyes instantly turns into stone.

Medusa became famous when the hero Perseus chopped off her head (with a little help from the goddess Athena).

Medusa

Hey, Perseus, why don’t you give me back my friggin head?

Perseus

I thought you were dead. Ummm, I kind of gave it to Athena.

Medusa

One night, very soon, your bed will be filled with snakes.

The Sirens

WATERHOUSE, John WilliamUlysses and the Sirens1891Oil on canvas, 202,0x100,6 cm National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne

THE SIRENS

These sexy ladies are often confused with mermaids, but they're actually half-bird instead of half-fish.

The Sirens are most famous for their gorgeous songs.

... but

their songs may be beautiful, but they also hypnotize sailors, luring them to their deaths on jagged rocks.

Orpheus

Don't miss my show at the Elysian Dome tonight! Special guests include Calliope and the Muses!

The Sirens

The Muses? What a joke.

Have the Muses ever sung so beautifully that they lured men to their deaths?

Scylla

NEER, Eglon van derCirce Punishes Glaucus by Turning Scylla into a Monster1695Oil on panel, 64x 53.3cmRijksmuseum, Amsterdam

GLAUCUS AND SCYLLA

Some lonely dude Glaucus, the immortal merman, who spies a beautiful girl, Scylla, the sea nymph, walking

naked on the beach.

Dude is smitten and asks a drug dealer, Circe, the sea witch, for a potion to bend the girl to his will.

...

The end of the story: the pretty nymph is transformed into a man-eating monster by her stalker's obsession.

Scylla

Wishing that lovely young Glaucus would come by for a visit…

Glaucus

Ooooh, sorry I've just been really busy, you know?

Scylla

Uh huh, and that doesn't have anything to do with the fact that I'm a big ugly monster now instead of a beautiful

young nymph, right?

Glaucus

Come on baby, do you really think I'm that superficial?

Art in detail_ Greek mythological creatures, female beauty and beastly ugliness (Famous Paintings)

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