Thursday, July 12, 2018

Painted Evocations of the Classical World (now in Stockholm)

Simon Peter Tilemann
Roman Triumphal Parade
1641
oil on canvas
Nationalmuseum, Stockholm

Pieter-Lastman-
Dido's Sacrifice to Juno
1630
oil on panel
Nationalmuseum, Stockholm

Gérard de Lairesse
Achilles discovered by Ulysses among the daughters of Lycomedes
ca. 1675-80
oil on canvas
Nationalmuseum, Stockholm

Bertholet Flemalle
Achilles wounded in the Heel
before 1675
oil on canvas
Nationalmuseum, Stockholm

"A fragmented wall painting from the first century C.E. shows two figures who have been thought to be Apollo and Paris, both equipped with bow and arrow.  Because the figures are static and because there is some indication of a structure in the scene, I think it may depict the late version of Achilles' death in which he is ambushed in the temple of Thymbraean Apollo.  Two reliefs from the third century C.E. more certainly depict this story.  Bronze paneling on a chariot (called the "Tensa Capitolina") displays a number of scenes from the life of Achilles, including one thought to depict Paris aiming an arrow at Achilles as Apollo points to his lower leg.  The unarmored Achilles stands before an altar, unaware of danger behind him."

– Jonathan Burgess, from Achilles' Heel: The Death of Achilles in Ancient Myth (in the journal Classical Antiquity, October 1995)

Johan Fredrik Hörling
Scene from Antiquity
1746
oil on canvas
Nationalmuseum, Stockholm

Carl Marcus Tuscher
Mercury confiding the infant Bacchus to the Nymphs on Nysa
before 1751
oil on canvas
Nationalmuseum, Stockholm

Pompeo Batoni
Acis and Galatea threatened by Polyphemus
1761
oil on canvas
Nationalmuseum, Stockholm

Toussaint Gelton
Diana in Landscape
1660
oil on copper
Nationalmuseum, Stockholm

Thomas Blanchet
Cleobis and Biton
before 1689
oil on canvas
Nationalmuseum, Stockholm

"This discourse of Solon's, with its cataloguing of  all the ways in which Tellus had been truly happy, had certainly served to pique Croesus' interest; and so it was, confident that he would be named the runner-up at least, he asked Solon for the name of the second happiest person on his list.  "Cleobis and Biton," Solon answered promptly, "two young men of Argos, because they never lacked for means, and also because of their remarkable physical strength.  Not only were they both prize-winning athletes, but there is also the following story told about them.  The episode took place during an Argive festival in honour of Hera, when their mother urgently needed to be driven to the temple in their cart, but early in the day, before the oxen had been brought back from the fields.  There being no time to lose, the two young men shouldered the yoke themselves and pulled the cart, with their mother riding on top of it, for a full 45 stades, all the way to the temple.  Everyone who had gathered for the festival was a witness to this exploit, and then, in its wake, the two young men died in the best way possible: a divinely authored proof that it is better to be dead than alive.  The Argives kept crowding around them, congratulating them on their strength, and the women of the city kept telling their mother how fortunate she was in her children.  In due course, such was the rapture of her joy at her sons' achievement and the fame they had won, that she went to stand before the statue of Hera, and prayed to the goddess that she would bestow upon her children, her Cleobis and Biton, who had brought her such great honour, the greatest blessing that it is possible for mortals to be granted.  The mother finished her prayer; and then came the sacrifices and the feasting; and then the young men passed inside the temple and fell asleep, never to wake up again; and in this way their lives were brought to a close.  The Argives made statues of them, which were then sent to Delphi – for it was clear that they had been the very best that men can be."

– from The Histories of Herodotus (ca. 440 BC), translated by Tom Holland (Viking, 2013)

Thorald Læssøe
Temple of Venus and Roma in the Forum, Rome
ca. 1840-50
oil on paper, mounted on canvas
Nationalmuseum, Stockholm

Jan Baptist Weenix
Harbour with Antique Ruins
1648
oil on canvas
Nationalmuseum, Stockholm

Johan Pasch
Ruinous Palace Arcade with opulent Still-life
before 1769
oil on canvas
Nationalmuseum, Stockholm

Gustaf Söderberg
Classical Temple in Agrigento, Sicily
before 1875
oil on paper, mounted on panel
Nationalmuseum, Stockholm

Constantin Hansen
Temple of Minerva on the Forum of Nerva. Rome
ca. 1840
oil on paper, mounted on canvas
Nationalmuseum, Stockholm