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| Willem van Mieris Apollo slaying Python 1690 drawing Morgan Library, New York |
In the first chapter of the Iliad, the god Apollo is responsible for sending plague by shooting arrows among the humans, and equally responsible for lifting the plague after a suitable interval of time has passed and suitable pleas have been heard. He founded his sanctuary at Delphi by killing the Python who guarded it for the archaic earth goddess Gaia. "Feared for their deadly venom, perhaps striking archetypical psychological chords of terror, the frightening aspects of snakes finds expression more in myth and art than in cult. Snakes (or 'dragons') were born of the earth or of the drops of Titans' blood; they are entwined in the Gorgon's hair, coiled around the body of Cerberus, accompany the Furies, and are sent by Hera to kill baby Hercules and his twin. . . . Probably evoking their hidden, secretive natural habitat of crevices and the world of 'under' in general, snakes were associated with chthonian powers. They were linked either with what emerges from the earth, such as trees or springs, or what is placed inside it, such as foundations of houses and altars, or graves."
– from the Oxford Classical Dictionary, 3rd edition, edited by Simon Hornblower and Antony Spawforth (Oxford University Press, 1996)
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| attributed to Francesco Antonio Meloni Studies of hands 17th century drawing Morgan Library, New York |
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| Salvator Rosa Hooded man carrying a book 17th century drawing Morgan Library, New York |
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| Bartolomeo Schedoni Turbaned figures 17th century drawing Morgan Library, New York |
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| attributed to Herman van Swanevelt Temple at Tivoli 17th century drawing Morgan Library, New York |
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| Jacob Jordaens Head of a woman 17th century drawing Morgan Library, New York |
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| Nicolas Lagneau Head of a Man 17th century drawing Morgan Library, New York |
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| Eustache Le Sueur Stooping man 17th century drawing Morgan Library, New York |
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| Giovanni Stefano Montalto Design for a pendentive with figure of a woman 17th century drawing Morgan Library, New York |
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| Beranrdo Strozzi Lucretia early 17th century drawing Morgan Library, New York |
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| Anonymous French artist Ideal figure 17th century drawing Morgan Library, New York |
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| attributed to Ercole Procaccini Heads of man and putto 17th century drawing Morgan Library, New York |
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| Johannes Thopas Portrait of a woman 1654 drawing Morgan Library, New York |
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| Adriaen van Ostade Two views of a peasant from behind 17th century drawing Morgan Library, New York |