Frederick Sandys’, another artist who lived from 1829-1904, painting ‘Medea’ portrays Medea, in my view, as being one who is having conflicted views of whether or not she is doing the right thing.
Sandys’ painting ‘Medea’ is depicting Medea performing a magical spell that will restore youth to Jason’s father Aeson; this is taken from the story of Jason and Medea. The story of Jason and Medea takes up a large portion of book VII from page 155 to page 163 and the story of Medea which lasts even longer from page 155 to page 166.
In the story of the rejuvenation of Aeson, Jason asks Medea if she can increase his father’s life by taking some of Jason life and giving it to him. Medea says that she can rejuvenate his father without taking some of Jason life. So Medea goes and travels all over to get the herbs and other things that she needs to rejuvenate Aeson and creates a potion out of the herbs and then she uses the potion to rejuvenate Aeson. The only description of Medea we get is of her hair when she is performing the rejuvenation of Aeson on page 162:
“…while Medea herself, with streaming hair…”
Obviously this does not tells us very much about what she looks like, but we are also told that she meant to be very beautiful. Sandys had to use artistic licence in his painting. The way that Sandys finally chose to portray Medea is probably because he used Ovid’s Metamorphoses as inspiration. Ovid portrays Medea as being a sorceress, so Sandys may have decided to bring the idea of her being a sorceress and what she would look more up-to-date to what she would look like in his time; thus the reason for of why she very strongly resembles a gypsy. Medea physical appearance in it self makes her look like a gypsy and the way Sandys has clothed her makes her look even more like gypsy; especially how she is wearing so much jewellery. The way that she is touching the jewellery may be trying to convey that it has some sort of magical power. In the painting below Medea there’s frog, what looks like a piece of holly and some sort of Egyptian sarcophagus, Sandys is showing how Medea has been all around the world to get all the things she needs for the rejuvenation of Aeson.
The last painting I will be discussing is one that portrays the whole life of Theseus in the one painting; where as the other two have just looked at a single event. ‘Master of the Cassoni Campana’ as he or she or it is know by, painting ‘Histroy of Theseus’ is the life story of Theseus but the artists has painted it as if Theseus was alive in today’s world, that’s today’s world for the artist who was alive in the early 6th century, another example of this technique of modernisation is the film ‘O’ Brother Where Art Thou’ which is supposed to be about Homer’s Odyssey.
The Artist depicts Theseus as a chivalric knight throughout his life. The artist has depicted many of the events that Theseus is famous for. The Artists most likely used Ovid’s Metamorphoses for inspiration because it is very much stylised in an Ovid way by the it the manner in which it jumps about from story to story but some how manages to link them together. Ovid describes Theseus’ encounter with the Minotaur quite well, even though it is very brief on page 183
“…in there, Minos walled up the twin form of bull and man, and twice nourished it on Athenian blood, but the third repetition of the nine-year tribute by lot, caused the monster’s downfall. When, through the help of the virgin princess, Ariadne, by rewinding the thread, Theseus, son of Aegeus, won his way back to the elusive threshold…”
Though the Labyrinth has been transformed into a garden maze is quite clear that the Artist has been inspired by Ovid; the woman who looks like she is waiting outside the garden maze, i.e. the Labyrinth, is I think meant to be princess Ariadne who was Minos’ daughter. In the top right hand corner you a ship sailing with black sails, this is representing the time when Theseus is sailing back to Athens from Crete, he forgot to replace the black sails, which meant that he had died, with white sails, which meant that he had succeeded in killing the Minotaur and that he was alive. When his father saw the ship returning with the black sails up he threw himself off a cliff, and fell to his death, not changing into a bird like some of the other people who had fallen off a cliff in Ovid’s Metamorphoses.
In conclusion, I think that I could mention many more people that have been influenced by Ovid but due to the word limit I cannot. Everyone is inspired differently, for some only need a small passage others need a long detailed passage. I believe that I have displayed both of these qualities.
(Total: 1,244)
Bibliography:
Ovid’s Metamorphoses
