The word ‘Renaissance’, or ‘rebirth’, refers to the renewal of European culture based on ideas from the classical past, whether Greek or Roman. Although it wasn’t only the myths and legends that were of interest, it is through them that we can see, most easily, the influence of classical thought on art. But what were the Greek and Roman myths? Who were the leading characters? Where did they come from, and what did they do?
As well as exploring the answers to these questions, in this three-week course we will discover the different ways in which artists of the Renaissance used these stories. We will also see that the pagan gods and goddesses had never really gone away, learning about their medieval manifestations, not to mention their presence in painting (and sculpture) after the Renaissance as well.
The most important of the cast of characters were the gods and goddesses, most familiar to us as the names of planets such as Mars, Venus and Jupiter. As the original dysfunctional family, we will discover how they are related, learn how to identify them, and define their responsibilities – whilst also making a start on their varying degrees of irresponsibility, as far as the fate of humans was concerned.
The heroes of ancient myth – Hercules, Perseus and Aeneas, to name but three – were almost always demi-gods, the children of illicit relationships between gods (or goddesses) and humans. We will learn their stories, as, unlike the gods, they do not have specific symbols (or ‘attributes’) to help us identify them: by their actions shall we know them.
Mere humans – whether male or female – were usually the victims of the gods, a problematic legacy that we will negotiate with as much tact as possible.
Many paintings in the National Gallery are straightforward illustrations of well-known myths; stories that are either lost in the mists of time with no known author, or popularised by writers like Ovid. In other cases, the gods and goddesses become metaphors, carrying ideas with them to communicate lines of thought through allegorical representation: there is not necessarily a ‘story’ to be told, but a concept that is being communicated. And then sometimes, we are dealing with a ‘simple’ story. One of these – the story of Cupid and Psyche – will form the focus of the second half of this talk.
